


Footprints Across the Stars

by Android2137



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Control Ending, Drama, Gen, Mindoir, Multiple Endings, Paragon Commander Shepard, Romance, War Hero (Mass Effect)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-10-02
Packaged: 2018-04-04 01:49:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 44,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4121721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Android2137/pseuds/Android2137
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The war ended unexpectedly with the Reapers repairing the relays, cleaning up the mess, and leaving, taking the Citadel with them.  Meanwhile, Shepard has been sending messages to her crew, letting them know she was alive, but that she can't come back.  Well, no one's going to just accept that, least of all Garrus.  If she can't come home on her own, then the crew of the Normandy, past and present, are going to her!  There's just one little problem: the New Council does not want them to succeed.</p><p>Updates every Saturday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Look to the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction in years. I mostly do original work that I never get around to finishing, but this beast refused to leave my head, so I figured why not. After all, it turned out to be one of the few I managed to finish. New chapter up every week unless I forget or am too busy. It was supposed to be a quick one shot, but then I found plot holes, so I had to find explanations for them, but then said explanations turned out to be more interesting than the actual story and it exploded into this monster. I'm afraid my dedication to avoiding plot holes and working with previous details overpowered my wish to create an emotional story. I think my fatigue is especially apparent at the end.
> 
> Image done by me. Maybe I shouldn't have painted everyone so teeny tiny...

  


* * *

  


The two of them lay in the bed of her cabin, watching the stars fly by overhead, her five fingers holding on to his three. In spite of their casual banter and easy back and forth, it was the quiet, contemplative moments that Garrus treasured the most.

“No matter how many times I stare out at it all, I just can’t comprehend the size,” she murmured. “Each light might be a star, each star has its own system, with planets, people… So many I can’t even wrap my head around the number.”

“Careful,” he said. “Remember what Mordin said about not reducing people to a statistic.”

“And not all of those lights are stars,” she continued. “There are other galaxies out there. So many. Made of their own stars with their own people. A nesting doll of numbers.”

“You sound like a child, looking through a telescope for the first time.”

She gave him a somewhat embarrassed smile.

“Back on the farm, when the night was too hot to sleep in bed and the skies were clear, we all used to sleep outside so we could stargaze. Mom would teach us the standard Mindoir constellations, the individual stars, and which species had settled there. Then Dad would sigh about how he missed the ones he remembered from Earth, even though the only one he could recognize off-hand was Orion’s belt. My brother would rattle on about the vids he had seen, mainly about Spectres, Justicars, Alliance Special Ops, and STG. I mostly asked what aliens were like. My brother and I hated the idea of inheriting the farm and being shackled to the ground.”

Garrus didn’t dare interrupt. Shepard didn’t speak of Mindoir much and, as curious as he was, he couldn’t find it in him to broach the subject himself. But as she lay there, he could almost see the happy teen girl she once was. Her eyes glimmered in wonder at the prospect of the exotic places that lay in wait at each point of light.

“Back then, my brother was the one who wanted to join the Alliance,” she confessed. “Fighting pirates and rescuing damsels in distress, especially if they were shapely humanoids. If he were still around, he’d probably ask me to introduce him to Tali and Liara. I just planned on joining a freighter once I graduated and see where my steps took me from there.”

He chuckled a bit, but noticed that her eyes were becoming shiny in a different way, as they usually did when she was trying not to cry.

“Is that why you joined the Alliance?” he asked. “To live his dream for him?”

She was silent for a moment, trying her hardest not to let the tears fall.

“Luck,” she finally said. “That’s all it was. That’s why I’m alive and he’s not.”

He gave her hand a squeeze.

“I know you humans don’t believe in spirits the same way turians do, but I’m sure your family’s spirit is with you even now.”

Though her eyes were still watery, she smiled at him.

“I didn’t join the Alliance just for his sake. The slaver raid made me realize the galaxy had bad as well as good. I didn’t want anyone else to suffer like I have. Besides, I don’t regret it. I still got to explore like I always wanted and met interesting people like I had dreamed of.”

She looked back up at the stars, still smiling.

“My brother used to say, ‘The way you go on. You won’t be satisfied unless you’re the first person to visit another galaxy, aren’t you?’”

“Is that your retirement plan?” he joked.

She sighed and he felt the muscles in her hand relax.

“I don’t think so. After everything that’s happened to us, I find myself welcoming the sensation of soil under my feet again.”

  


* * *

  


Garrus wakes up, staring at the ceiling. No window with stars. No sound of the aquarium’s water filtration system. Not even the hum of the ship’s engines or the red glow of the main battery. He rolls out of bed and remembers he is in a prefab in Vancouver. He holds his head in his hands and tries to hold on to the remnants of the dream for as long as possible. It was a memory from that short period between the Collector Base and Aratoht. He feels strange, reliving a memory like that. Perhaps it was not too different from the solipsism drell fall into. His steps echo as he heads for what passes for the kitchen. The prefab isn’t all that big, but for some reason, he still wishes to share it with another person. No, one person. One specific person. He retrieves a dextro protein bar from a box and opens the blinds. Much of the city is still rebuilding. Maybe it’s a good thing no one’s found her yet, he quips in his head. Hard to go sightseeing when all the tourist spots are barely there. Then he hangs his head. His jokes these days have been running a little dark. He doubts that she’d appreciate them, but sometimes it was the only way he could keep functioning. He looks out at the city again, his gaze more somber. One day, he tells himself. One day, we’ll find her.

His thoughts are interrupted by a beep from the datapad on the crate that passes for a bedside table. A message. He runs over to read it with such eagerness, he bangs his leg on the corner of his cot. Just because turians have natural armor plating doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt. After a moment of clutching his leg and cursing in pain, he picks up the datapad.

> From: Ashley Williams  
>  To: Jeff Moreau, EDI, Greg Adams, Karin Ch…,  
>  Subject: Tonight
> 
> 49.29026928621229  
>  -123.09875965118408  
>  0300

He drops the datapad and scrambles to pack his few possessions. At last, it’s time.

  


* * *

  


After the Crucible fired, the Reapers inexplicably stopped fighting and headed straight for the broken mass relays or set about picking up the debris from the battle. Restoring the relay jump function took some time, but what they restored first was the comm buoys. The Normandy was already making the long trip to Earth and when the first message came to everyone’s omni-tool.

_Shepard to Normandy: Is anyone still alive?_

All living members of the crew, past and present, whether on Earth or in space, responded to the message and asked for her location in turn. Her response? 

_I’ll find my own way back. I’m afraid I have a personal problem to solve first._

Search teams had been formed and all tried to ply her for details like landmarks, ecosystem, or even whether it was day or night where she was currently. All she would send was “I’ll return when I’m ready.” The more cynical members of the crew, like Jack, Javik, and Zaeed, thought it was someone playing a cruel joke or a misguided attempt to console the survivors. Garrus decided to test that theory.

_Remember that time we went to Mindoir together?_

He prayed with every fiber of his being to every spirit he knew of that the answer would be correct. That it would be the one he was expecting. If it was just some impersonator, they’d probably talk about visiting her old farm or the graves of her family. Only he, Tali, and Shepard would know the answer to that question.

_You mean the toy rocket in the cliff?_

It was her.

  


* * *

  


It was right after Aratoht, before she dropped everyone off at the places of their choosing. She had already discussed her plans with the crew and though he didn’t want to leave her side, he knew how hard it was on her to make this decision. Perhaps the visit to Mindoir was to steel her resolve or reinforce some important value in her mind. Either way, there was no doubt that it was a personal mission for her. She chose not to land until her destination was in the dead of night and asked him and Tali to accompany her. Not ordered. Asked.

As they walked the paths, she found herself getting lost a couple of times before finding some landmark or other to get back on track.

“Sorry. It’s been years. It’s changed so much.”

Garrus and Tali said nothing. It didn’t seem right to speak until she brought up the topic herself. They eventually passed by a house that had an enormous billboard above it stating “COMMANDER SHEPARD USED TO LIVE HERE!”

“Wow. That’s in really bad taste,” Tali muttered.

“It’s a humble farming colony,” Shepard sighed. “Some people cling to the smallest fragment of excitement here.”

“You mean like Conrad Verner?” Garrus quipped.

Shepard laughed a bit, but kept walking. If the farm wasn’t her destination, the two aliens asked if they were going to her family’s graves. She shook her head no. The location had become too sensationalized after the Blitz. It turned her stomach to look at it then; she had no desire to see what it looked like now. Instead, she brought them to the base of a cliff. Her face lit up.

“It’s still here.”

She ran to the cliff wall and pointed her omni-tool’s flashlight at a plastic object lodged into a crack out of their reach. It was apparent it had been there for years, for the paint had faded away and it underwent so much wear and erosion that it was difficult to tell what it originally was.

“When I was eight years old, a merchant ship crash landed on our farm. The only survivor was a batarian, but Mom managed to nurse him back to health and Dad found a ship headed to Illium where he could transfer back to batarian space.

“My brother and I were scared of him at first,” she continued. “We knew about how the Hegemony was using slavers and pirates to attack humans. He wasn’t too fond of us either. But Mom and Dad told us that the injured needed to be helped, no matter the species.”

“So that’s where you got it from,” Garrus said.

She smiled and her eyes twinkled, but it was difficult to tell if it was from tears or mischief.

“Before then, my brother and I had never seen a sapient non-human species in person. Our curiosity eventually overpowered our fear and we went together to ask him questions about space. He decided to try to scare us with stories about the Hegemony and the Terminus Systems, but they just stirred the fires of adventure within us. Our games of pretend became about pirates, outlaws, and mighty ship-to-ship combat. The Honorable Captain Shepard of the SSV Awesome vs. the Indomitable Pirate Queen ‘Eyepatch’ Shepard.”

Garrus found himself chuckling at this. For some reason, he still couldn’t see Shepard in charge of a band of pirates and it wasn’t even all that far from reality.

“Morek Kalesh warmed up to us eventually. Told us we reminded him of his own kids, so full of questions about space. Before he left, he made a water rocket and taped one of my brother’s model ships to it. We pumped air into it like he told us to, but I think we accidentally tilted the rocket when we set it up. That’s how it got stuck in the cliff like that.”

“Did you ever see him again?” Tali asked. Shepard was quiet for a moment.

“No. It’s been decades. And before he left, he told me he and his family were moving to a new colony… On Aratoht…”

Her eyes were brimming with tears again. So this was why she came to Mindoir, to remind her of the pain of loss. Garrus felt that if he were in Shepard’s position, Aratoht would just be poetic justice for Mindoir. She obviously disagreed. Ever since reading up on her service history, he had wondered why she wasn’t more vengeful. She lost her family to batarian slavers after all, and fought with such determination and ferocity on Elysium. After what happened on Eden Prime, he saw her slaughter hordes of geth with no remorse. But as time passed, she confused him a bit more. How could she, who had suffered such loss, be naïve enough to free the Rachni Queen? Why bother trying to talk Saren down? Why would she defend Sidonis? What possessed her to bring Legion aboard and converse with them after everything the geth did? It wasn’t until they became intimate with each other that she opened up to him and he saw a different side to her. For all the horrors she had seen, the responsibilities she had on her shoulders, she was still an idealist. Mindoir made her hate slavers, not batarians. She only gunned down those geth because they were not willing to negotiate. And ending lives is just a waste when criminals can be made to feel remorse and make amends. One’s value does not end at sin, but at death. Underneath that fierce strength and diplomatic cunning was a girl who still looked up at the stars and wanted to meet those who lived among them.

“He was a merchant,” Tali said, patting her shoulder. “Aratoht was a hard planet to live on and this was decades ago. I think the chances are good he and his family had already moved out.”

But Shepard only shook her head.

“After what happened, I promised myself I wouldn’t make others suffer like I had… If only I were able to warn them…”


	2. Who's on the Mission?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so Garrus heads out to the Normandy, picking up some passengers along the way. The (former) Council and Admiral Hackett offer some parting words and warnings, but the crew are not to be deterred. They're not going to be stopped by anyone, not even Shepard herself!

Garrus drives through the streets in the dead of night, his suitcase sitting next to him in the passenger seat. The city never truly sleeps, especially with all the rebuilding that must be done. All the geth he drives by wave at him as if wishing him luck. Do they know what’s about to happen? Entirely possible. The synthetics still unsettle him, but if they’re hoping for the mission’s success, then he won’t snub their fond farewells. He turns right and heads into another set of pre-fabs. A young woman with a partially shaved head and a grizzled middle-aged man with an old assault rifle strapped to his back are waiting at the curb with bags under their arms.

“Good man,” growls Zaeed as he crawls into the back seat. “’Preciate it.”

“You aren’t staying behind with your students, Jack?” Garrus asks.

“They’ll get plenty of endurance and precision training just by helping rebuild,” she answers, getting into the other back seat. “Besides, I owe Shepard. They get that. They said they’ll cover for me as long as they can.”

“And if anyone deserves a happy ending, it’s Shep,” says his suitcase? Kasumi Goto flickers into visibility, sitting demurely on top of his luggage with her own bag in her lap.

“I told her before,” Kasumi continued, “that a lot of people want to see you two together and it stands true even now.”

Garrus’ mandibles flick and twitch with embarrassment. He is very touched to hear Kasumi say that.

“I have at least half the extranet lined up, paying to see your reunion vid.”

Less touched.

  


He arrives at the coordinates Ashley specified, which leads him to the Normandy floating in the bay. Grunt and James are helping the crew and have already established a friendship, judging from the way they’re trying to one-up each other.

“Getting tired, pyjack?” Grunt laughs as he carries a large crate under each arm. “I can carry your load and you if you want!”

“These muscles aren’t just for show, Sharky!” Vega replies, hauling his load in a similar manner. “If you still got some steam when you’re done, we can settle this with wrestling!”

At the base of the port thruster sits Tali with a soldering torch. To Garrus’ surprise, a geth stalker is doing the same to the starboard thruster.

“Okay. The replacement port thruster should stop rattling now, Chief Adams,” Tali says into her comm.

“Adjustments to the starboard thruster are now complete, Chief Adams,” says the geth stalker.

Garrus and his passengers head for the airlock, where Ashley is discussing something with Admiral Hackett and the Council.

“Ah at last, he’s here,” Ashley says, saluting him.

“Captain,” he greets, saluting back. The heavy losses resulted in another promotion for her. “Admiral, Councilors. You didn’t need to see us off at this hour.”

“Your departure hour is this late for a reason,” says Councilor Valern. “We… er… are no longer the Council…”

“We were impeached this morning,” explains Tevos, hanging her head. “We were blamed for not properly preparing for the Reaper Invasion, especially when we were given almost three years warning.”

If they are fishing for sympathy, he’s not biting.

“We have already been replaced and when the new Councilors saw that we were about to approve a rescue mission, the majority vote was… rejection,” continues Sparatus, looking as though he swallowed something bitter.

“What?!” Jack’s biotics spark in outrage.

“But that’s crazy!” Garrus shouts, equally shocked and disgusted. “After everything Shepard’s done?!”

“It’s precisely because of what Shepard has done,” Valern coughs.

“They’re the ones that have been keeping you from setting out once the Normandy repairs were complete,” Hackett says, giving the three a glare. “Too busy debating. They didn’t trust her.”

“Try to see it from our point of view,” Tevos argues. “Commander Shepard activates the Crucible and instead of destroying the Reapers like she had promised to everyone she’d do, she takes control of them instead! She could be setting herself up as a dictator over the galaxy! What are we supposed to think?!”

“I should think that her actions thus far speak for her,” Hackett answers. “She risked her life, her reputation, everything to save as many people as she could and has achieved the impossible time and time again! Even after taking over the Reapers, she did nothing more than fix the relays, gather Reaper debris, grab the Citadel, and leave! Hell, even if she wants to rule the galaxy, I hardly think she’d do a worse job than you three!”

Tevos and Valern are about to argue back, but Garrus has long decided that he doesn’t want to hear their excuses.

“But why would they want to stop us from finding Shepard?” he cuts in. “If the public knew, there’s no way they’d be able to hold on to their seats either! Everyone might just rebel and abolish the Council altogether!”

“My successor, Quentius, is actually in support of your pursuit for the Commander,” Sparatus explains. “He stated that either Commander Shepard is a great hero and a symbol of hope and unity or she’s an underlying threat that will once again enact galactic extinction. If she is the former, all would benefit greatly from her presence and if she is the latter, better to know where she is so we can keep an eye on her and make preparations. He’s even in favor of the Normandy crew doing the searching. Said as the ones with the foremost expertise on Reapers and the ones who know her and her methods best, you’re the most logical choice. But Irissa and Esheel overruled him, claiming they have good reason to believe Shepard was indoctrinated at the last minute. They even said that should she ever appear again, everyone should assume that it’s to restart the Reaper Invasion. They’ve made her a criminal and are already spreading propaganda.”

Garrus feels his plates tingle with anger. And also Jack’s anger. Zaeed takes a couple steps away from her as her biotics flare up even more fiercely.

“They even tried to lock down the Normandy in order to stop her crew from finding her,” Hackett says, stepping in. “Fortunately, port authority is pretending to have technical issues, but you all need to leave tonight before they come up with something else.”

The former turian Councilor addresses Ashley this time.

“By undertaking this mission, your Spectre status will likely be revoked. Then the new Council will send other Spectres after you. I imagine most would refuse, but not all of them. And I remind you, Spectres are the best of the best.”

“Maybe, but they’re no Commander Shepard,” Ashley scoffs.

“But if they come at you all at once,” Valern argues, but EDI has come to the airlock.

“Captain Williams, the Normandy is now fully prepped and pre-flight checks have been completed. Aside from you, and the group in front of you, all hands are now on the ship. We are ready for departure at any time.”

“Thank you, EDI,” she says, heading inside. However, as Garrus, Jack, Zaeed, (and Kasumi) pass her, she pauses. “If you truly understood what I meant by that, you wouldn’t be worried about us either.”

With that, the door shuts.

  


In spite of the hour, everyone inside is wide awake and cheerfully going about their duties. If he didn’t know any better, he could swear that the party they had on the Citadel simply moved to the Normandy and Shepard is being fashionably late. Jack, Zaeed, (and possibly Kasumi) head to the elevator to claim their rooms, but Garrus lingers behind with Ashley for a moment.

“So who’s on the mission?”

“Of the crew, it’s just Traynor, Joker, Adams, Chakwas, Cortez, Gardner, and Ken and Gabby Donnelly. Everyone else, Alliance and former Cerberus, is either too busy with the rebuilding efforts or just don’t want to leave their surviving family. Kelly Chambers says she’s has too many PTSD cases to leave them now and Diana Allers is on Bekenstein, so she can’t make it back in time. EDI says it’s fine though; she’ll just have less processors to devote to idle research. Most of the squad is here though, including the ones from the Collector Mission. It’s be faster to list who couldn’t make it. Urdot Wrex had to go back to Tuchanka to keep the other clans in line. Jacob Taylor doesn’t want to leave Brynn in case their daughter is born before we come back. And Kasumi Goto said she was coming, but she never showed up.”

“No. I’m here.”

Ashley jumps and spins around. The master thief materializes out of thin air to laugh before she joins everyone else in the elevator.

“Did she do that during the Collector Mission?” Ashley asks, shuddering.

“Cloaking, yes. Popping in and out like that, no. She was particularly fond of watching Jacob work out, not that he was aware of it at the time.”

“Remind me to warn Vega.”

However, the light moment breaks when Ashley once again snaps to attention and salutes him.

“I may be the one with Spectre authority, but you are her XO, the plan is yours, and, unlike me, you have served with absolutely everyone on this crew. Where shall we begin, sir?”

He reflects back when he first learned Shepard had taken the Citadel. She already had a couple months head start, so he wanted to leave immediately and there was one place that might have a shortcut. First Hackett talked him down with the reasonable point that the patchwork repairs they did on the Normandy sufficed for the journey home, but not the one he wanted to undertake. Then, while the ship underwent proper repairs, the Council found out about the plot and wasted time debating on whether or not they would even allow it. Garrus wanted to leave once the repairs were finished even without Council approval, but Victus convinced him to act as a turian delegate to the humans while he waited. Now the Normandy is leaving a full month after the repairs have been completed. It may already be too late, but it can’t hurt to check.

“Ilos. We’re going to try taking the Conduit.”

  


While en route, Garrus makes rounds to catch up with the crew. Joker and EDI sit in their usual places in the cockpit (“Garrus, can you run down to the mess and get me a piña colada? After Reapers, this mission will feel like a vacation!” “I think a more accurate comparison would be ‘road trip’.” “No one better ask if we’re there yet.”). Miranda he found working in the war room (“Doesn’t feel like the most efficient use of space, if you ask me.”) He runs into Traynor in the elevator with her hair suspiciously wet (“Well, no one was using the cabin at the time! Is it so wrong to luxuriate in its wonderful shower while I still have the chance?”). In the mess, Rupert Gardner works busily over the stove (“Good news, Garrus! I learned some more turian recipes! Wish I could say they taste great, but I can’t eat the darn things.”). Liara is where she was before the war’s end, still working away as the Shadow Broker (“I’ve almost got my networks back at full capacity, but I’m still booting up the terminals. Check in later.”). Javik sits at the same table Thane used to in Life Support (“The krogan reclaimed Port Cargo. I wanted to fight for my territory, but the human, Ashley, said we’ve wasted enough time with repairs. I will settle my dispute with him after the mission.”). He meets Samara in Starboard Observation, who promptly swears the Third Oath of Subsumation (“Please do not order me to do anything particularly dishonorable. I would hate for us to have survived this war only to kill each other later.”) Dr. Chakwas, of course, sits in the Med Bay like always (“Thank goodness you’re here, Garrus. Please do me a favor and break up the roughhousers downstairs.”). Tali is working on the geth in the AI core (“Garrus, this is Frog. The humans he worked with called him that and the name stuck.” “Creator Tali’Zorah, the weight of your shield mods will interfere with my mobility.” “Hmm… Is there any way to compensate?”). He stops by Engineering to say hello to Adams and Mr. and Mrs. Donnelly (“A fight? No, that’s in the shuttle bay.” “Ah ken hear it from here though. Soonds like a terrific brawl.” “Forget it, Kenneth. You’ll either lose credits or teeth.”), before taking the elevator down another floor. There he finds James and Grunt engaged in the promised wrestling match with spectators egging them on. From the looks of things, James is putting up a good fight. Though covered in bruises, he is pushing Grunt back. However, Grunt shifts his footing and would have thrown the human if James had not responded to the sudden movement by weaving and evading his arms.

“Headbutt him again!” yells Jack from atop the Kodiak. “Come on, Grunt! I got fifty creds riding on you!”

“Shake it off, Vega! Are you all talk or what?” Cortez yells just beneath her.

“Credit where credit’s due. For a human facing a krogan unarmed and head on, he’s doin’ all righ’,” Zaeed chuckles from the armory, where he’s comparing mods for his guns.

As much as he appreciates a good friendly spar, it’s too early in the mission for that. In one calculated move, Garrus knocks both combatants off their feet.

“Fight stops now. Doctor’s orders. She doesn’t want to have to open the medi-gel packs already.”

The two lumber back on their feet. Although they are dissatisfied by the lack of clear victory, they nod and shake hands amicably.

“Looks like you got off easy, Sharky.”

“We’ll have the second round later.”

Having touched bases with everyone, he heads up to the cabin to drop his bag off. Everything is just how she left it. All the strange knick knacks she had collected during her journeys decorate the place. Model ships are up in the display cases. Her clothes are still in the closet. Fish swim in the tank, fed by the auto-feeder. The hamster is napping in its cage. Even the husk head is still there. He always hated that thing and asked her time and again to foist it on Vega. She acquiesced enough to leave it outside her door whenever he spent the night with her, but that did little to assuage the fact that it was still there and likely able to hear whatever they were doing inside. He wants to grab it, head back down to the shuttle bay, and shove it into James’ arms, but he won’t. It’s her room after all. There is only one change he dares to make. He removes one object from his bag and sets it down next to the terminal. The group picture from the party in Shepard’s new apartment. It was the last time he saw her that happy. Just that one night, she had been able to forget the weight of the galaxy. He tosses his bag onto the couch and then throws himself down on the bed. He had been riding high on the euphoria everyone else was feeling, but now that he is alone again, his fear and trepidation come back. The new Council and their Spectres are not the biggest obstacle in this mission. It’s Shepard herself.

  


* * *

  


Initially, the daily messages were optimistic. No matter how he was feeling, that little ding always raised his spirits. Of course, he much preferred having the real thing, but if they had to make do with a long distance relationship for the time being, he’d be patient.

_Once I figure this out, we can pick up where we left off._

_But what are you trying to figure out? Why can’t we help you?_

_It’s too dangerous. I can’t risk it._

_We chased a rogue spectre and his geth army, went on a suicide mission in the galactic core, and went to war with dreadnought sized synthetics bent on galactic genocide. What is more dangerous than that?_

_Me._

He couldn’t help laughing at that, but she was obviously evading the question. He kept asking, reminding her of the numerous resources at her disposal. As the savior of the galaxy, everyone would most certainly owe her a few favors. Instead, her messages took a sadder tone.

_You don’t understand. I’m not human anymore._

That threw him, he had to admit. What happened? Was it the Crucible’s doing? But he knew asking her such questions would only sound as if he might reject her. Besides, it’s not the first impossible thing that’s happened to her. He considered responding with a joke about how they were never the same species to begin with, but he had a feeling that’s not what she needed either.

_I still love you._

As time passed, her messages became more withdrawn. It was as if she craved communication, but it was forbidden from her. Worry began to take hold of him and the rest of the Normandy crew. Did something happen? Should they go rescue her? How would they even find her? Then came the message that broke his resolve to be patient.

_I can’t come back. I’m sorry. Find someone else and be happy._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [When "later" happened, James decided to introduce Grunt to the culture of his people.](http://tinypic.com/r/n2z8n8/8) (Mental image that hit me while correcting html tags)


	3. This is Going to be a Long Trip...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ilos fails to provide the shortcut Garrus was hoping for, but the Shadow Broker has found the destination. On the downside, they've also found out the pursuit has officially begun. With two particularly merciless Spectres hunting them down, what should they do?

Using the Hammerhead, they land on the research base that was built after their first visit to Ilos. Pockmarked with craters and corpses, it’s clear the Reapers did not spare this place from the war. The high spirits they had on the ship dissolve as they drive through.

“I had almost forgotten what total devastation feels like,” grumbles Javik. “I am picking up your primitive bad habits.”

They arrive at the door to the Conduit and it opens.

“She might have come here first,” Garrus sighs.

“Is that good or bad?” asks Tali.

“Likely bad.”

Nevertheless, he presses on. They drive past the prothean cryogenic pods in respectful silence. It was bad enough to know they held the dead before, but now that they know a prothean personally, the reality of it hits them harder. Garrus and Tali determinedly do not look at the walls, but Javik peers out the window, stone faced as always. After a while, he mumbles something about the worth of sacrifices under his breath. Garrus sighs. That ruthless calculus again.

  


They make a stop to check on Vigil. To Garrus’ surprise, he is active and waiting for them.

“Welcome back, turian. Welcome, prothean, quarian.”

“The Council said you ran out of power. That’s why you couldn’t answer their questions about the Reapers.”

“You are correct. However, once the Reaper Invasion began, the researchers repaired my generator. Unfortunately, I had no information that could help them at that point.”

Garrus sighs in disgust. They had almost three years. Why didn’t they do that earlier?

“Has Commander Shepard been here within the past year?”

“She may have. I am not certain. I could not identify exactly what the creature was, but it did speak to me in her voice. However, unlike the previous instance, I feigned shut off.”

“Why?” Tali asks.

“It was indoctrinated. Purely indoctrinated.”

Garrus’ blood runs cold. So is it true then? Is there no saving her?

“Why did she come here? What did she want from you?” Javik asks.

“It wished to know how to shut off indoctrination.”

Garrus and Tali look at each other, but Javik continues to watch Vigil with an unreadable expression.

“What happened when you didn’t answer her?” Garrus asks.

“It wept and left. Even if my programming allowed me to speak, I do not know the answer to the question.”

“That’s it? She just left?”

“My knowledge of her actions are limited to the confines of this room. The researchers here have dismantled all sensors outside in order to study them.”

Those brain dead scientists!

“Back to the Hammerhead,” he orders.

  


The aqueduct run is significantly easier without hostiles, but even so, his nerves are on edge. Indoctrinated? She can’t possibly be indoctrinated. She must be the one controlling the Reapers. Why else would the war suddenly end the way it did? But then, if she controls the Reapers, shouldn’t she know how to turn it off? He shivers. Did something go wrong with the Crucible? Was there some flaw in its construction or did the Illusive Man sabotage it somehow?

“Garrus,” Tali gasps.

He hits the decelerators. They are at the point where they first saw the Conduit. Except there is no Conduit. Nothing, but a road leading nowhere.

“I was afraid of this.”

He brings the Hammerhead to where the Conduit once was and they all look around. No debris, just footprints of brutes and harvesters. The Conduit wasn’t destroyed; it was taken. Javik touches the pedestal where it once stood.

“It is strange,” he says, closing his eyes to focus. “I sense her traces, but she was not here. Only the brutes and harvesters that dismantled the Conduit and carried it off.”

Garrus paces a bit. It wasn’t unexpected, but that doesn’t make it any less painful. Shepard doesn’t intend to come back and she’s determined not to let them find her. And that one word keeps floating around in his head. Indoctrinated. Indoctrinated! What does Vigil know? It’s just a VI! But if Vigil is right, can he bring himself do it? To fight Shepard? To kill her? He’s suddenly aware that Tali and Javik are watching him intently. Even with her helmet obscuring her face, Tali’s worry is evident by the way she shifts her weight between her feet with her hands balled up against her chest. But Javik? Garrus always had a hard time reading Javik.

“There’s nothing left for us here. Back to the Normandy.”

  


Once they are back, Garrus strides into the Shadow Broker’s quarters.

“Got anything for me?”

Liara nods.

“First is this.”

She brings up a vid message on one of the terminals. A very angry turian female with his clan markings is screaming into the camera.

“GARRUS, WHY IS IT THAT DAD AND I HAVE TO HEAR ABOUT THIS WHOLE FORAY FROM ADMIRAL HACKETT?! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US YOUR—”

Garrus slams on the stop button and gives Liara a look. She’s holding in a fit of giggles.

“Sorry, Garrus, but Solana made me promise.”

“I prefer to be yelled at by my sister in private. Got anything else?”

She brings up the relay chart on one of her monitors.

“Tali, Miranda, and I managed to extract route data from one of the relays.”

The entire relay chart lights up, all converging on one point.

“This is the path the Reapers took once the relays were back online. As you can see, all Reapers went to Sigurd’s Cradle.”

What’s in Sigurd’s Cradle? A collection of colonies, mainly human, turian, and asari… Then his mind’s eye is cast upon the husk head upstairs.

“Did they go to Despoina?”

“Most likely. Of all the races Shepard had entered alliances with, Leviathans were the ones she trusted the least. And then there’s this…”

Liara’s hands fly over her terminal and a message appeared on another screen.

“The asari sent a diplomat to negotiate with the rachni on their official entry into the galactic community. She was quite overwhelmed by the experience of mindmelding with the Queen and had difficulty making sense of it, but she understood enough that the Queen had a message for the crew of the Normandy. Shepard visited the Queen on Suen.”

So they have another lead. Garrus tries to read through the message, but once it describes the mindmeld, its description becomes meandering and confused. She ends up more focused on how alien the experience was to her than on the message itself.

“Is she all right? It didn’t drive her insane or anything, did it?”

“I think she was more dazzled by the experience than anything else. Children who mindmeld for the first time react similarly, especially if the other person is sharing a particularly thrilling experience. I’m more concerned with why Shepard would go to the rachni.”

Garrus hangs his head, forcing the answer out of his mouth.

“Vigil said she was indoctrinated, but trying to find a way to turn it off.”

Liara pales.

“You don’t think…”

“I don’t know, Liara,” he sighs. “But I’m not prepared to give up yet. Even if she is indoctrinated, you know she’d want us to… stop her before she hurt anyone…”

Kill her. Murder her. Rip his own heart out and tear it to pieces. Would be kinder if they did it, but he prays to every spirit that it’ll never come to that.

“I’d appreciate it if you keep it to yourself…” he says to her. “I know most, if not all of the crew, would understand, but I’d rather it not spread around until we are absolutely certain there is no other recourse.”

Liara gulps, but she hardens her expression and nods.

“Of course.”

“That goes for you too, EDI,” he says to the ceiling. “Not even Joker. I think he’d take it particularly hard.”

“I understand, Garrus,” the AI chimes in. “Also, news feeds have announced that within the past hour, the new Council has revoked Captain William’s Spectre status and we are all now officially fugitives. A surprisingly large number of Spectres have signed on for the hunt.”

His mandibles pull tight against his carapace and his plates tingle with anger. So after everything she did, this is what it amounts to? However, Liara has gone back to her monitors.

“This does explain the unusual messages suddenly flooding the Shadow Broker inbox. This one in particular is most telling.”

She pulls up the message on one of the wall monitors for him to see.

> From: Jondum Bau  
>  To: Shadow Broker  
>  Subject: Intel request
> 
> Shadow Broker, I am in search of a rogue Spectre by the name of Ashley Williams, and her ship, SSV Normandy SR-2. Due to the skill and infamy of her crew, a number of Spectres have taken up the hunt, most notably Decima Faustus and Morgana. Relay route data has revealed the Normandy went to Pangaea Expanse, but as she is best known for her stealth, I will accept any leads, no matter how vague. However, due to the current state of the galaxy, I am afraid I cannot pay the proper amount, but I have already forwarded what I could afford to your account. In these dire times, I implore to your sense of charity.
> 
> Jondum Bau  
>  STG, ST&R

“Most of the other ‘intel requests’ are like this,” Liara laughs. “You must never implore to the Shadow Broker’s sense of charity. It’s just asking for deliberate misinformation or a warning to your target. And the amount he paid was only enough for one bit of information.”

“So he wasn’t paying for intel, but for a warning to us,” Garrus says, examining the message more closely. “He wanted to warn us about Decima and Morgana, and that they know where we are.”

Still, this way of doing things makes sense, especially for a salarian. What better way to impede a manhunt than to participate in it and sabotage it from the inside?

“What can you tell me about those two?”

Liara first brings up a picture of a turian woman with plates the color of cast iron, red eyes, and, most tellingly, barefaced. She appeared only a few years younger than he is and, he had to admit, good-looking with shapely curving mandibles and an elegant carapace. Shame her eyes look so cold and aloof.

“Decima Faustus is a very new Spectre, initiated during the war. Records indicate she’s from Triginta Petra and moved to a major city on Digiteris for obligatory military training when she was fifteen… Hmm. She was among those chosen for Spectre training. Her instructors all say she is extremely talented, high marks in all her subjects, an exemplary student who follows orders without fail. But that might have been her problem. There was an instance where her superior officer ordered her to destroy evidence of his own wrongdoing. The review board was already suspicious of him and monitoring him covertly and he never told her the reason he wanted the evidence destroyed, but she knew it was evidence and still did it without question or hesitation.”

There are some who would consider her to be a perfect soldier and a good turian. But there would be several more who would call her an empty-headed puppet. Considering the trouble Saren and Shepard caused, however, he could see why the Council would want someone like Decima under their command.

“And Morgana?”

A crease formed between Liara’s brow. A purple-skinned asari pops up on another screen. Her skin is mottled with paler spots and her lips are a similar color. Unlike Decima, her smile is warm and appears to come easy to her.

“She is Decima’s mentor and commanding officer of the Thelema, an asari cruiser. An asari huntress with a long and storied career, even before becoming Spectre. Her feats are well known and, until a certain point, admired. Her most impressive achievement was single-handedly exterminating a notorious pirate gang, the Band of Forty. She did whatever she could to protect the innocent and the only reason she did not become a justicar was that she could not bear to cut off contact with her family.”

Garrus looks over the images. It’s not hard to see why she was held such high esteem. A video of her catching debris from a crumbling building with her biotics, protecting the civilians around her. A photograph of her overseeing the arrest of pirates as they’re hauled off. A photograph of her at an awards ceremony, posing with her mother, her sister, elcor brother-in-law, and their three daughters, the youngest of which is holding the medal.

“Did something change?”

Liara brings up a news article featuring Morgana, face unrecognizable due to fresh acid burns. The scar tissue on his own face aches anew.

“She infiltrated… something the batarians call a ‘Cultural Assimilation Center’… It’s basically where they take bought and kidnapped non-batarians and disgraced batarians in order to condition them for their lives as slaves… Her family was taken, you see, and she wanted to rescue them. They… didn’t make it, but the other slaves did. She did not leave unscathed though… After that, she became more cutthroat… Even willing to sacrifice the innocent to achieve mission results…”

One bad day. That’s all it took for this asari to go from… well, basically, from Shepard to Saren. However, Liara’s report doesn’t end there.

“It’s said that she’s pretty much built up her own band of mercenaries since that day and allows them to commit any crime they choose aside from the slave trade.”

“What?!”

“My guess is she was unable to recover from the loss of her family and that was exacerbated by her own physical trauma.”

So they’re being chased by an amoral drone and a psychopath with her own merc group. Well, they’ve faced worse.

“If you want to know more about Morgana, I suggest you ask Wrex and Zaeed. As for Decima… Most of her work is classified due to her Spectre status and with the comms the way they were at the time, there is little I can glean at the moment,” she admits. “The most I can find are the results of her missions: successful, but even the rescue missions resulted in heavy casualties.”

“Couldn’t that just be because of the Reapers?”

“Perhaps, but even the more ruthless Spectres managed to save a good number in their rescue missions and children were often among them. In her cases, there were never any children who survived. In fact, the only ones who tended to survive were engineers, medics, biotics, soldiers, scientists, and those just old enough to enter military training… Wait, there’s one exception. She and Samara were in the same colony at one point.”

  


“Yes, I met Decima Faustus,” Samara says, meditating as always, but now her upper lip curling in distaste. “Of the many Spectres I worked with during the war, she was especially objectionable.”

“What happened?”

“You must understand that the Code allows some flexibility during dire times, even without the Third Oath of Subsumation. Of course, such situations must be especially extreme, but there was no doubt the Reaper War qualified. I have allowed soldiers and Spectres to kill unarmed civilians without retribution because they were indoctrinated or their injuries were slowing everyone else down and a quick death was preferable to the alternative. I have aided unrepentant slavers because they were the only line of defense between the innocent and the husks. I even had to choose between rescuing courageous soldiers and defenseless civilians. I will not tell you what my choice was, but the cries of the condemned haunt me even now.”

“You don’t need to explain yourself, Samara. We all had hard choices like that.”

“But we know and hate the weight of such choices. We carefully considered our options and our hearts weep for those we could not save. Decima is not like that.”

“It’s turian culture to understand sacrifices are a given. We know we can’t save everyone, so we do what we must in order to win. If even one person is still standing at the end of a war, the fight was worth it.”

He does not intend to defend Decima. It is simply that most species do not view war through the same lens as turians. He wants to eliminate any biases in Samara’s account that may stem from that.

“But none of the turian soldiers I served with had ever been unfazed by the deaths. Knowing they are required does not make it easier, but harder. I have seen many a turian mourn the fallen. Decima does not.”

She gets up and stands before him, rigid and forcing herself not to move unnecessarily. After long years of discipline and meditating on the Code, perhaps this is her equivalent of restlessness.

“Cerberus was attempting to take over an asari factory that produced weapons and biotic amps. I and a squad of asari huntresses and soldiers were holding them off. Then we heard the howl. A turian ship entered the atmosphere and right behind it, a Destroyer-class Reaper.

“And just like that, the goal shifted from defending the factory to covering the colony’s evacuation,” Samara continues, now allowing herself to actually pace back and forth. “At first, I thought the turian pilot simply ran into misfortune while trying to find refuge. However, when the sole occupant introduced herself to us, I realized the truth was much more sinister. Though a Spectre, she was quite young and I expected her tone to be scared and apologetic. Instead, she was calm, measured, and neutral. She provided a transcript of her mission: to prevent the factory from falling into Cerberus hands and to ‘take out as many of those Cerberus bastards as you can while you’re at it’. Really, the last part was more an afterthought by Councilor Sparatus.”

She stops pacing and looks Garrus in the eye.

“I do not think Decima values the lives of others. She sees them as livestock. That is why she deemed the Reaper an adequate means of achieving her mission. She abandoned us and retreated within to the factory. I followed her inside to help the workers escape and I saw her going around and setting up bombs. I sped up the evacuation as much as I could, but I still only got half the workers out before she detonated them. The factory exploded, eviscerating the Destroyer Reaper’s leg and crippling it, but also murdering the workers within as well as the commandos who remained to hold Cerberus and husks off. It was deplorable, but the Code dictated that the evacuation must take precedent. But then some commandos demanded that she aid the evacuation. As people were boarding the ships, she would shoot any small children she saw.”

Garrus' mouth hangs open. Until that point, her actions struck him as purely pragmatic. Killing children so suddenly is just self defeating.

“Why?!”

“She claimed that they were a drain on resources and only served to slow everyone else down. That people who can contribute to the war now should have greater priority. She also stated that it was kinder thus, though I question her sincerity for her face and vocal tone did not change at all. Regardless, the Code compelled me to end her life in order to spare the children that remained. She managed to evade me and flee, but if she’s after us, it spares me from pursuing her.”

The Council inducted someone like that into the Spectres? Were they really that desperate?! How did she get picked for Spectre training?! She’d have never made it far in the Hierarchy proper!

“Do you want me to bring you along if it looks like we’ll run into her?”

“I care not either way,” she says, sitting back down and resuming her meditation. “The Code would be satisfied regardless of who kills her. Just be wary of where you choose to engage in battle.”

Well, since the Conduit is already gone, there’s no longer a need to rush anyway. Why not lead them all on a merry chase?

“EDI, tell Joker I’ll get him that ‘pina cola’ thing he wanted. This mission has officially become a ‘road trip’.”

“I remind you it is both illegal and inadvisable to intoxicate your pilot… Also, he says ‘It’s pronounced “piña colada” and don’t forget the little umbrella.’”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Immediately after Garrus got him that drink.](http://tinypic.com/r/2z7g20g/8)
> 
>  
> 
> I will admit that I'm not 100% certain if accessing relay route data is canonically possible. If it's not, then let's just say it's a fairly recent discovery that came from a combination of studying the Crucible and Reaper technology.


	4. Detour to Tuchanka

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, if you're going to lead your foes on a wild goose chase, what better place than a hostile wasteland like Tuchanka? Stop by, check in on an old friend, see how things are going, ask for a bit of help setting up a trap while you're there...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: child endangerment and "throwing" air/spacecraft at an animal.
> 
> I admit, there's really no reason for them to go to Tuchanka. I just missed Wrex...

Departures from the Normandy SR-2 were surprisingly emotional, but none had surprised Garrus more than Grunt’s. When the Kodiak landed, Wrex was waiting for them. Urdot Grunt hopped out to join his clan permanently. He was halfway to Wrex when he inexplicably changed his mind, turned around, and charged at Shepard. Garrus’ first instinct was to reach for his assault rifle, but Shepard moved in front of him. Instead, she had her arms outstretched and allowed herself to be bowled over by the force of Grunt’s running tackle. Wrex was chuckling.

“I will miss you, Battlemaster,” Grunt said, giving Shepard a rib cracking hug. “I will fight well and become strong. I will make you proud.”

“I am proud, Grunt,” she gasped, though smiling all the same. “You’ve come a long way since I let you out of that tank.”

“You know, Shepard, you can always prepare for the war here on Tuchanka,” Wrex called out to her. “You can do a lot more here than in that cell those pyjacks are going to throw you into.”

“Thanks, Wrex, but you know I can’t,” she gasped. Grunt finally let her go. “You gave up on the krogan once, but you still cared enough about them to come back to rally them into a cohesive force. I have to see if I can do the same with my own people.”

“Well, if you’re going to start a hostile takeover, I’d be more than happy to lend you my help,” Wrex nods.

“Yeah! Let’s go do that now!” Grunt squealed. Shepard only gave him a fond pat on the head plates and shook her head.

“Humans are not like krogan. They are not moved by a show of force.”

She gave Grunt one last hug, spared one for Wrex, and as they were departing, she stood at the window waving until she could see them no more. Garrus was reminded of his mother on Solana’s first day of school.

“He’s like a son to you, isn’t he?”

Shepard opened her mouth to contradict him, but paused. Thought on it.

“I guess he is. I can’t believe it. Of all the species in the galaxy, my first child, my first born, turns out to be a krogan.”

Garrus laughed.

“Well, he’s already going to get a lot of flak for being tank-born. Having a human for his mother won’t make things much worse. At least once you get rid of the Reapers, he can point at you and yell at the naysayers, ‘That’s my mom!’”

They had breached the upper atmosphere at this point and were high enough to see the blackness of space. They were still too close to the planet to see the stars yet, but Shepard stayed at the window and looked out at it. Suddenly she began to laugh and cry at the same time.

“They grow up so fast, don’t they?”

  


* * *

  


“Garrus, we’re here.”

Garrus snaps awake. He had dozed off in the Kodiak. Grunt, Tali, and Zaeed are already on their feet, waiting to hop off. Tuchanka is as harsh and forbidding as he remembers, but steps are being taken to change that. Land around them is being cleared and leveled for farms and towering above the ramshakle stone structure in front of them are supports and scaffolds for a larger building behind it. At the base of a pile of steel beams leans a small drawing of what will eventually be carved on a wall: Kalros’ victory over a Reaper. The door to the complex opens and a veritable flood of krogan babies run out to greet them. They were all born very recently, yet already able to toddle.

“They’re so tiny,” Grunt grumbles, knocking aside a few as he walks. “I wasn’t that tiny when I was born.”

Tali squeaks with concern and tries to help them up, but even baby krogan are sturdy, so they’re none the worse for wear. Garrus chokes back a laugh and shakes his head. Grunt’s words may be true, but Garrus can still remember how gleeful the tank-born was when Shepard gave him a plastic model of a T-Rex... and his disappointment that it was the version that had feathers.

“Not even I’ve ever seen so many kids in one place before and I grew up on the Migrant Fleet,” Tali laughs, picking up a toddler reaching up to her. “When they said krogan are crazy breeders, they weren’t kidding.”

A literal pile of krogan babies lumbers up to them.

“You have no idea,” it says in Wrex’s voice.

“Keelah, Wrex, are you saying these are all yours?!” Tali says, gesturing at all the toddlers around her.

“Not all of them, no, but after the genophage, it became tradition for the chief of the clan to bless every child with long life, strong body, many surviving descendants, and all that other crap,” Wrex sighs. “The ceremony lasts all day and the other chiefs have gone for centuries with so few children to christen that they were all overwhelmed by the sudden influx, but none of the females want the tradition to be dropped. So, while I was gone, they officially made me Grand Chief of Tuchanka and now I have to bless the other clans’ overflow as well as the children of Clan Urdnot. I expected Bakara to protest against it, but she was all for it. I’m working my way through Clan Ravanor right now. I have half a mind to abuse my new position and restrict how many kids each male can father. Pretty sure that’s what Bakara really wants.”

“Says the man who fathered half the new children on Tuchanka.”

“Ughh. Don’t remind me. My aching quads…”

The pile of children shifts uncomfortably.

“Well come on,” says Wrex, herding all the loose children back inside the compound. “Something tells me this isn’t just a social visit.”

  


After turning all the children over to the females, Urdnot Wrex takes them all to the ceremonial chamber where the children are bathed at the end of their christening. It’s large and separated from the rest of the complex and, therefore, perfect for secret conversation. Garrus tells him of recent developments, of the new Council, of the Spectres now ordered to hunt them down. Wrex’s scarred lips are twisted in anger and disgust well before he finishes.

“Why couldn’t those Council pyjacks die during the war?”

“To my experience, only three types of people survive wars and disasters,” says Zaeed. “The skilled, the cowards, and the damn lucky.”

“Sounds about right. But to think that Morgana is serious about this,” Wrex sighs. “She’s really changed.”

“You knew that sick bitch?” Zaeed asks.

“Yeah, we met once,” Wrex nods. “I was hired to kill a corrupt senator on some colony planet. Belan, I think? We ended up on the same ship and chatted for a while. At some point, she figured out why I was there, so she rushed to get to the guy before I did. Long story short, she got him arrested before I could even point my gun at him. And drained all his bank accounts, donated the sum to charities, and made his crimes highly public so that no one would ever want to be in the same room as him again. I tried to give her the sum I was paid, but she just donated that to charity too. So disgustingly sweet I could have sworn my teeth were hurting. But even so, I couldn’t help but like and respect her,” He sighs again. “Of course, this was before her face burned off.”

“And that’s the Morgana I met,” Zaeed snorted. “Was part of a bodyguard squad to a volus who was a speaker for some presentation or some shit on Maskawa at the time. Y’know, the place where teachers and students are kidnapped practically every Wednesday? We were en route when suddenly our ship was attacked. Goddamn mercs started kickin’ down doors everywhere and holdin’ ev’rybo’y at gunpoint. Then this bitch in a helmet with a robot voice started yellin’ that she was commandeerin’ the vessel on Spectre authority. ‘Bloody terrific,’ I said. ‘Welp, Ev’rybo’y to the pods.’ But then the bitch said she could not risk us leaving and lettin’ her target know she was comin’. Ship was gonna crash planet side and us along wiv it. Well obviously, the bloody idea didn’ sit righ’ wiv us, so we all fought back. I managed to get into an escape pod wiv the volus, but the rest of his bodyguard squad were gunned down along the way. And later, I foun’ out the bitch dropped the ship on some backwater colony some slavers were holdin’ hostage. If the ship crash didn’t kill them, the debris that flew when the crater formed did. And the bitch had the gall to proclaim it a huge victory.”

He heard about that years ago. The news report claimed it was an accident. Likely the mission was listed as classified. He is reminded of his own investigation into Saren all those years ago. And he’s baiting a person like that to come to Tuchanka and Decima is no better. Guilt chews at Garrus’ gizzard, but Wrex rubs his chin, forming a plan in his mind.

“If they come by here, I can definitely buy you time,” he announces after a while. “They land to search, I can hold them off with some diplomatic issue. If they pull that orbital crap, it’ll be an unprovoked first strike and I can demand the Council’s impeachment under the threat of another Krogan Rebellion.”

“Aren’t you worried about them redeploying the genophage?” Tali asks.

“From what you’ve told me, this Council is no better than the old one. You save a galaxy and then they proclaim you as public enemies. I’m not going to let the krogan become chained varren just because I’m scared of what they may do to us.”

Grunt beat his fists together in agreement. Garrus, on the other hand, is a bit more reluctant. Another Krogan Rebellion. It’s a scary thought. Wrex, though reasonable, is not the type to do things halfway. Ask for a distraction and he’ll give you one for the history books. Well at least the krogan would be wholly justified in this case. But after all the trouble they went through to cure the genophage, he’s not about to let their efforts go to waste. He opens a comm back to the Normandy.

“Liara, if the confrontation between the krogan and the Spectres goes bad, the krogan are going to need some good press.”

“I’m already feeding various news outlets counter-propaganda against the new councilors,” Liara replies. “But I can always squeeze in more.”

“I appreciate it,” Wrex says to both her and Garrus. “The sooner everyone gets rid of the pyjacks pointing their fingers, the better.”

Garrus is about to cut the comm when an urgent message comes in.

“Garrus, a ship has just opened fire on us!” Liara reports.

“What?! Why didn’t you detect it?!”

“It’s the quarian envoy ship!”

“What?!” Tali screams into Garrus’ omni-tool.

“There was talk on Rannoch about a military alliance with the krogan! I didn’t want to initiate hostilities in case that was all it was!”

“But why didn’t you tell us about it?!” Garrus demands.

“Just disable it! Don’t shoot it down!” Tali yells.

They’re threatening the entire complex just by being here and a significant fraction of the population is krogan toddlers. Who stole the envoy ship? What does he know about the enemy so far? They’re targeting the Normandy instead of the ground team. That’s not like Morgana who indulges in overkill. But shooting the Normandy would leave them stranded here, giving their pursuer plenty of time to pick the survivors off. It’s more likely to be Decima.

“It’s too dangerous to head back to the ship,” he tells his team. “And we can ‘t stay here. Decima has absolutely no qualms about killing children.”

“I’m about to head to a meeting discussing who our ambassador should be,” Wrex says, consulting his chronometer. “No children there, just a bunch of short tempered clan chiefs. If Decima does attack, it’d probably just put them in a better mood.”

An army of krogan would make a good distraction. They relish a good battle, but at the same time, they are parents now, with families to look after. He doesn’t want any of them to have survived the Reapers only to fall to some crazy turian. In spite of what he said earlier about turian culture and sacrifices, he’d been affected by Shepard’s ideals. There is always an alternative. Mine-riddled zones are one… But only an idiot would drive through such a place without thorough knowledge of where all said mines are… They could just occupy a defensible point. She’s only one woman after all. Then he’s struck by inspiration. An idea so crazy, so ridiculous… But if they could pull it off…

“Wrex, could you give us a tomkah and directions to Kalros’ hunting ground?”

Wrex gives him a toothy grin.

  


“This is crazy,” Tali says with surprising calmness. “This is absolutely crazy. Isn’t Kalros the mother of all thresher maw?”

“She took down a Reaper all by herself,” Wrex replies from the driver’s seat, humming cheerfully.

“Crazy,” Tali repeats, shaking her head. “And we’re going to walk right into her territory?”

“I’d expect this kind of plan from a krogan, not from you,” Zaeed grumbles, shaking his head.

“Ideally, we won’t need to summon her,” Garrus explains. “But if she does come, she’d provide a good distraction.”

“For both Decima and us!” Tali shouts. “How, pray tell, are we going to stop her from killing us?!”

Garrus coughs uncomfortably as he sends orders back to the Normandy.

“The important thing to remember, Tali, is that you have a homeworld now. Losing a ship won’t be as much of a blow to your people as it used to…”

“Wait, WHAT?!”

“Oh look, we’re here,” says Garrus a little more brightly than he normally would. He opens the hatch and everyone climbs out.

“So help me, Garrus, once we’re back on the Normandy, I’m ramming my shotgun up your—”

“SHUTTLE!” yells Zaeed, readying his sniper rifle.

Garrus pulls out his own and uses it as a spyglass. No windows, but he switches his visor to infrared mode and sees a turian woman in the pilot’s seat. That’s Decima all right.

“Damn! I was hoping for more time to prep the area!” Garrus snarls, switching to armor-piercing rounds. “Zaeed, Grunt, try to shoot out those shields! Tali, you and I will finish them off! Wrex, use the tomkah cannon!”

Zaeed and Grunt fire their rifles on full automatic, shots dissipating over the shield. Garrus activates his overload in time with Tali’s energy drain, and then swiftly takes aim. He lines up a shot to her forehead and fires. The bullet makes it through the ship’s armor, but the impact slows it down enough to give her time to duck. Wrex climbs back into the tomkah and aims carefully. Instead of shooting the front, he hits one of the thrusters, damaging the propulsion mechanism and sending the vehicle spinning.

“One hit headshots are fine,” he grunts at Garrus, poking his head out of the hatch. “But if you aren’t sure you can reach their head, hit ‘em in the legs.”

Garrus couldn’t help smiling. This is why he loved working with Shepard and missed his Omega team. Something goes wrong, someone else has a back-up plan.

“Zaeed, head for the other maw hammer, but don’t activate it before I do!” he yells while heading for one of the two towering structures. “Wrex, Grunt, you’re on point! Tali, back them up!”

Everyone scatters to their positions. Wrex climbs out to stand beside Grunt and readies his shotgun. As Zaeed makes it to the left hammer, Garrus traverses the terrain to get to the right. The shuttle itself maintains enough forward momentum to get within a good distance the two krogan when it skids to a halt. Decima opens the door and rolls out, using the downed shuttle as cover while she tries to get over her dizziness. Wrex takes this opportunity to hit her with a lift grenade. She’s lifted into the air, but so is what she’s holding: a wriggling and wailing krogan toddler.

“Anak!” Wrex bellows.

Garrus aims carefully, but Decima is curled up and holding the child in such a way to shield her whole self. So he can’t kill her. Fine. He’ll slow her down then. He aims for her foot.

“Do it and the child dies,” says Decima, using the voice amplifier app in her omni-tool. The effects of the grenade wear off and the two fall back behind cover.

“Then how about a hostage exchange?” Garrus says, putting away his sniper rifle and holding his hands up. “I’m acting commanding officer of the Normandy and the mission. I’d be a much more valuable hostage to stopping the search for Shepard. At the same time, you avoid a diplomatic incident with the krogan and won’t have to fight an army of them on your way out.”

Appeal to her pragmatism. Offer the quickest way out. Give her every reason to accept. Still, he feels he doesn’t know her well enough for this to succeed. So when she nods, he lets out a sigh of relief. Grunt gapes at him in shock and derision and Wrex gets up to stop him, but Garrus shakes his head.

“Fall back, Wrex,” he says, shaking his head and covertly signaling toward the maw hammer as he does so.

The old krogan sighs and nods. He can tell from the beady look in his eye that he understands the plan. Wrex climbs up to the hammer as Garrus steadily makes his way to Decima.

“Now let the child go.”

Decima points her pistol at Anak’s segmented head plate.

“I need insurance.”

Suddenly, the pistol overheats and malfunctions in her hand. Tali has given him an opening. Garrus runs forward and attempts to disarm her completely. Decima’s forced to let go of the child in order to counter, but she has plenty of flexibility to compensate for his reach. His every attempt to grab or pin her, she weaves out of, but likewise, he’s able to evade her own strikes and grabs. Still, there’s no question that she’s good. He’s reminded of the recon scout he fought to a tie with. At least he’s familiar with the style she’s using: standard turian military. Perhaps she realizes this because suddenly, her technique changes and she finally gets a hit in. He can see that she’s not quite as adept with this new form. For one thing, she almost never tries scratching or clawing with her talons and though her movements are smooth and well practiced, her strikes seem less accurate. She seems to be attempting to hit sensitive nerve bundles, especially the ones in joints, but even the ones that do land don’t inflict as much pain and tingling as they should. Clearly it’s a martial art of another species. On the surface it felt similar to his spars with Thane and the human squad members, but it was fundamentally different. It is vaguely familiar, but one he can’t identify at that moment. Perhaps it’s unique to Triginta Petra? No, even there they’d utilize the talons and spurs. He notices Anak watching the fight avidly. Figures a krogan toddler would rather watch than flee. He yells at her to run to Wrex, but in that moment of distraction, Decima finally gets him on the sensitive plates beneath his eyes. He hears the hiss of a dispelled heat sink and the click of its replacement. Is she aiming for him or Anak? Doesn’t matter. He needs to regain his senses before either of them dies. Then, two low booms. Not Decima’s gun, but the maw hammers. The earth begins to rumble. He shakes the last of the disorientation from his eyes in time to see Decima thrown off her feet by the quake. Now’s his chance. He crawls over to Anak and grabs her. Decima aims her gun again, but they’re all suddenly showered by dirt and gravel. Kalros has emerged.

  


There is no more time. He carries Anak over to Grunt, ignoring the tiny krogan’s attempts to resist and bite his talons off.

“Take her off my hands!” he orders. Grunt does so grudgingly, though he’s in a much better mood now that Kalros is in play.

“So what’s the plan?” he asks.

What indeed? On one hand, they’re surrounded. That was the hiccup in the plan: he could not control where Kalros would pop up. Their two clear exit paths are blocked by either a Spectre or the largest thresher maw in existence. This was not exactly the set-up he had in mind. On the other hand, they outnumber them five to two. Although, now that he thinks about it, when has that really been an advantage? With Shepard, and on Omega, they were always outnumbered, but it never made a difference. And back the first hand, Kalros defeated a Reaper on her own. This is the one even krogan don’t think they can kill. Obviously the path of least resistance is Decima. Garrus quickly scans the battlefield. Then, he swiftly makes his way over to where Tali is, changes the IFF settings on his proximity mines, and presses them into her hands.

“These are just for insurance.”

He nods his head toward the fallen shuttle and Tali understands immediately.

“Remember that there won’t be any room for the stick once I’m done with you!” she threatens, but moves carefully to the next bit of cover.

As for Kalros, she was initially confused where the intruder lay. After the Reaper, the seven little organics down below escaped her immediate notice. However, all too soon did she remember the glory days of Tuchanka when they summoned her for the greatest krogan warriors to fight. So the tiny ones are back. She roars, rears, and body slams the field.

“This is what I missed about the Normandy!” crows Grunt with laughter as he’s thrown up into the air by the force of impact. “You guys always have the best fights!”

Wrex, however, uses this opportunity to grab Anak and get back into the tomkah. Not even he wants to take on Kalros on foot, or at least not while there's a child around. When Kalros lunches again, Wrex hits her in a few sensitive areas, forcing her to withdraw.

“Whatever you’re planning, Garrus, do it fast! Kalros is more startled than hurting!”

Rather than engage in battle with either of them, Decima runs for the tomkah and attempts to flush out or kill Wrex with a frag grenade. However, he is ready for her and deflects it with his biotics. Of course, the probability of survival is dependant on having a vehicle, so she only redoubles her attempts. Wrex easily rebuffs her with a combination of biotics, his shotgun, and the weight of experience. He would not have lived as long as he had if he could not hold his own against a brand new Spectre. Tali takes this opportunity to sneak past unnoticed. Good. It’s all going swimmingly so far. But then Kalros regains her senses and fires a continuous stream of acid. Zaeed and Garrus are forced to flee as their respective covers are eaten away. Wrex manages to drive the tomkah out of the line of fire and Grunt just manages to grab on the rear. It was not built for evasive driving, but Kalros’ large size and high vantage point does not lend very well to precision. Garrus manages to find more sturdy cover and look for Tali. He could no longer see her.

“Tali, an update?!”

“Just finishing up!” she reports over the comm. “Everything’s in position! We have three minutes!”

The tomkah swings around between Garrus and Zaeed, who take the opportunity to climb in. Grunt sighs with disappointment, but follows after them.

“No!” Decima shouts, more an order than a scream. She is lobbing grenades and firing carnage shots at them, still trying to flush them out of the tomkah. “You can’t leave me here!”

“We can and we will, bosh’tet,” announces the shuttle’s loudspeaker.

Decima turns around to see the shuttle’s cannons charging. They fire at Decima, weakening the cover behind her and causing it to fall over. The ensuing dust cloud makes it impossible to spot a dead body, but they don’t have the time to be thorough. The tomkah stops next to the shuttle and Tali scrambles into the hatch.

“Go go go!” she yells, closing it behind her.

As they leave, the shuttle suddenly turns back on, taking to the air and spinning hopelessly. It is a new, larger, and more vexing target, but Kalros catches it in a few snaps. Her attention now on the departing tomkah, she roars and slithers forward to follow.

“I hope you got a back-up plan, mate,” says Zaeed, watching from the rear window. “That shuttle wasn’t even a mouthful.”

“ETA, Tali?!” Garrus shouts.

“Very soon!” she answers, her body tense and rigid, her voice a higher pitch than normal. “Any second now!”

And then it arrives. The quarian ship. It descends through the atmosphere and fires its cannons at Kalros, providing a much larger punch than the tomkah. She turns to face this greater threat. Oh it does not measure up to the Reaper, but it provides enough distraction to make her lose interest in the fleeing ground team entirely. She rears up, snatches it in her jaws, and pulls it down below. The ground ceases to quake and the only sound in their ears is the tomkah. The three non-krogan finally sigh in relief. Even the two krogan warriors are panting hard. Only little Anak is completely unruffled by the whole ordeal, squealing and giggling in Wrex's lap. Then Zaeed starts laughing.

“And to think the closest I’ve ever been to death was goddamn Vido shootin’ me the face! Suicide mission to the galactic core, facing down the mother of all thresher maw on foot, goddamn Reapers, and the one who nearly did me in was Vido!”

“Funny how that works out sometimes, isn’t it?” Wrex asks.

“You know, it’s not too late to turn around,” Grunt says, looking back with the air of a kid leaving a theme park. “We could always have another go.”

“No,” Garrus groans, talons over his eyes and willing away a headache. Tali, however, just sits primly next to him with an air of tranquil fury.

“Do you have any idea how valuable that ship was?”

“Oh shut up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was no reason to involve Kalros either. That was just a relic from how I originally wrote Decima and it was a lot more exciting than a straight up fight against her. The previous version of Decima was basically a crazy adrenaline junkie who intentionally makes the fight more difficult because she gets off on the challenge. That includes killing people who she thinks "stole her kill" or are simply too helpful and made the fight too easy. The longer I went with it, the more she struck me as stupid. The Council would never pick such a person to be Spectre, no matter how desperate they are. It's just not sensible. So I changed her personality and rewrote every part that involves her in some way. She's much more dull now, but there is a reason for that...
> 
> And if you're wondering why there's no picture this time, it's because I did have something planned, but the set-up was more elaborate than the previous, I wasn't 100% certain it would work, and I was wondering if I was trying to cover the weakness of my own writing with it and I really shouldn't be doing that.


	5. Developments Offscreen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With their next destination decided, Garrus makes his round of the ship and just enjoys the relaxing atmosphere. Camaraderie, kinship, and, of course, some squabbles. Liara and Wrex tell him the consequences of their actions on Tuchanka and a promising shift in galactic politics.

Fortunately, the rest of the trip was uneventful aside from a few spiteful zaps from Tali and Anak’s mother and Wrex getting into a quick brawl. After a visit to Chakwas and a shower, Garrus heads to the cockpit to tell Joker the next destination.

“Really, Garrus? One date with Kalros wasn’t enough for you?” Joker teases. “You had to go back for a second?”

“I’m really not hoping to see her a third time.”

“You’d better, or I’ll tell Shepard once we find her. If anyone’s scarier than Kalros, it’s her!”

“So how did you get the crew of the quarian ship to work with us so fast? Were they all hostages? At least tell me they all left in escape pods.”

“Believe it or not, there was no sapient crew, only a VI,” answers EDI. “Since peace between quarians and geth has been established, they’ve been disabling their VI and allowing geth to upload themselves and take their place. I am merely speculating, but I believe Decima had snuck into the ship before any geth were uploaded, reactivated the VI, designated herself as Commanding Officer under Spectre Authority, and fled. VI are known to be easily deceived, after all. On top of that, the quarians had spent generations anticipating and fending off the geth, so I was having difficulty penetrating firewalls to hack the VI. Tali disabling it from within the system through the shuttle sped up the process significantly.”

“Well that’s a relief. Incidentally, how well do you think you could stop Tali from breaking into the cabin?”

EDI is silent for a moment as she calculates the odds.

“You are a friend of Primarch Victus. I am sure you can talk him into gifting the quarians with a ship similar to Normandy.”

Another moment of silence.

“Is that a joke?”

“No.”

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Garrus sighs.

“Anyway, where to next?” Joker asks, turning back to Garrus.

Even if Decima isn’t dead, her shuttle is gone, as is the quarian envoy ship. It’ll quite some time to get back to civilization, especially with her injuries. And that’s assuming she survives run-ins with the other creatures of Tuchanka. She shouldn’t be bothering them for a while. As for Morgana, relay data revealed the Thelema is still in the Pangaea Expanse. Best to sneak off while they’re both busy.

“Set a course for Suen. We’re going to chat with the Rachni Queen.”

“Ugh. Better you than me.”

  


Then, he goes about his rounds. Traynor and Miranda are discussing Alliance modifications to the Normandy.

“I’m just wondering why the War Room is circular. Wouldn’t a quadrilateral be more space efficient?”

“Do you know why King Arthur wanted a round table?”

In the mess hall, James is arguing with Gardner over recipes.

“You can’t have _huevos rancheros_ without fresh-made guacamole! What is this jar _mierda_?!”

“Oh, I’m sorry, twinkletoes! Lemme just go to the greenhouse and check the avocados!”

At the table, Grunt is examining a box of boneless chicken filets with Ashley, who is in the middle of eating her dinner.

“I’ve eaten chicken and boneless chicken and there’s no way a boneless creature can build up that much meat. How does it work?”

“Huh? No. It’s a normal chicken. They just separate the meat from the bone when they package it.”

“Why would you do that? Bones add crunch and texture and they’re full of calcium. No wonder you humans are soft.”

Frog, seemingly from out of nowhere, jumps down to the table. Ashley yells and cracks its flashlight eye with her steak knife.

“Ugh! Sorry, but don’t do that!” she scolds. “Can’t you just walk around on the floor like everybody else?”

“This platform is ill-suited for bipedal movement,” he answers. “Organics have a tendency to trip over objects below their eye line. As organics on this ship are incapable of moving along the ceiling, I deemed this the most efficient and unobtrusive method of travel. I apologize for startling you. I merely wanted to report to Mess Sergeant Gardner that the non-critical 50% blockage in vent B appears to be a lyophilized pyjack corpse.”

“Urgh! How’d that happen?!” Gardner grunts, foisting a plate of food on James. “All right. Thanks for telling me.”

At that moment, Javik storms up to Garrus.

“Turian, I demand you let me throw this Kasumi creature out the airlock!”

“Why? What did she do? Steal something? Look through your drawers?”

“She keeps following me, pretending to be invisible!”

“Hmm. So that version didn’t work either,” says Kasumi’s disembodied voice. She flickers into visibility. “I’ll find a way to trump your eight pupils one of these days.”

With that, she returns to Port Observation to tinker further. Garrus expected Javik to return to Life Support, but he doesn’t. Instead, he stands firm and focuses all four of his eyes on him.

“Is there another problem, Javik?”

“I want to know what you will do once we find the Commander.”

His plates tingle again. He’s making him address this now? Now, when the mess hall is full of people, watching him for his answer? He even catches the flickering of Kasumi’s cloaked head from around the corner and Frog is staring at him, his flashlight eye sparking and flickering from the damage. He lets out a sigh.

“I will do what Shepard herself would want to be done.”

If she is indoctrinated, he make sure it’s quick. If she is still herself, even if she isn’t human anymore, they’ll find some way to bring her home. He studies Javik’s expression carefully, but cannot decipher it as easily as Shepard could. Strange how reading people, no matter the species, seemed to come so naturally to her. In the end though, Javik gives a stiff nod and returns to Life Support. He lets out a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding. He knows Javik doesn’t hold him with the same regard he holds Shepard. Calling him “turian” is proof enough of that.

  


“So he’s already contacted you then. I’m not surprised,” Liara says to Wrex on one of her terminals. He is covered in infants again, but at least this time they can see his face. “I think you’ll want to bring this up during the next clan meeting.”

“Something I should know?” Garrus asks.

Liara looks up at him and smiles.

“We kickstarted a revolution of sorts. Oh it’s a bloodless one so far,” she quickly assures him, seeing his mandibles splay out in horror. “Few want another war so soon after the last, but almost no one is accepting the propaganda from the Council. Or what’s left of it anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“It all started when the Alliance was discussing who should replace Udina. Admiral Hackett was pretty much elected against his will, but Irissa and Esheel shut the humans down, stating Udina’s treachery and Shepard’s actions prove that humanity wasn’t ready for Council membership after all. It was a relief to him on a personal level, but he was as outraged as the rest of humankind at their assessment of Shepard. It was also the last straw for Quentius. He stormed out, ranting about wanting no part of history repeating itself. He has since been seen speaking to leaders and prominent figures of the various races. Rumor has it he’s trying to overthrow the established Council and start a new one that will not be so exclusive.”

“I told him to count the krogan in,” grunts Wrex, “but the problem is that we’re all parents now. The women love to talk their problems into submission, but I doubt they’ll split from their kids for the sake of politics and I can’t have the men skipping out on fatherly duties either. Picking our Councilor will take some time.”

“Well, the plan is still in its rudiments, Wrex,” Liara responds. “With the potential for so many arguing and butting heads, I’m sure you’ll have all the time you need.”

“And if there’s one thing we krogan love doing, it’s butting heads,” Wrex nods. A tiny pair of claws reaches up from the bottom of the screen. “That reminds me.”

He bends down to pick up Anak, who giggles and waves at the screen.

“Thanks to Decima’s abduction of one of the Ravanor Chief’s daughters, I may be able to help kick the two pyjacks out of power. I’ve announced—and all clan chiefs, including the females agree—that if those two don’t step down, we’re starting a second Krogan Rebellion.”

Garrus sighs. He was expecting it, but he still doesn’t like it.

“Don’t worry, Garrus. They’ll cave. They don’t have the quads.”

“Well, they are both female.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Even if they turn out to be stubborn, no one will listen to them when I’m through,” Liara adds with a mischievous grin.

Garrus sighs again, but nods this time.

“I trust you, Wrex. I don’t like it, but I trust you.”

Wrex nods back and is about to close the connection when he remembers something.

“Oh hey, uh, when you find Shepard, tell her I’m willing to give her her own krogan clan if she wants.”

“…What?”

“It’s unorthodox, but the krogan owe her that much. Besides… then she can help me out with all these christening ceremonies.”

  


As he approaches Starboard Observation, he overhears Samara’s call to Falare.

“Are you sure this is all right, Mother?”

“The Code forbids me from overthrowing unjust governments, but it also demands I defend those who are righteous. In order to do so, I must first find the righteous person. But that is not why I called. How is the new monastery coming along?”

“It’s… It’s going fine, but… they’re discussing planting a bomb in the foundations…”

He couldn’t bear to hear anymore and heads down to Engineering. Tali’s silence is stony, but she softens a bit when he promises he’ll talk to Victus about a replacement ship. Then Kenneth asks them both for details about what happened groundside and Chief Adams, of all people, is concerned about the effects the ship will have on the maw.

“Well for all you know, she could turn biotic!”

A biotic giant thresher maw. He does admit it’s a scary thought. Well if the Reaper had no effect, he highly doubts the quarian ship will either. Zaeed isn’t in Starboard Cargo, so Garrus takes the elevator down to the shuttle bay. He’s there, at Vega’s station, cleaning his guns and talking about Jessie.

“Then ev’ryone started firin’ rounds in the air like idiots, cheerin’ about how the war was over. Well, I guess a man can be forgiven for being an idiot when he’s just that fuckin’ happy. So I tried ejecting the thermal clip to join in, but… nope. Got stuck. Jessie only returned to fight in the greatest war the galaxy had ever seen… and, goddamn, she gave ‘em hell.”

“I never thought I’d hear such a beautiful story about a rifle,” says Cortez from the Kodiak.

“Well if it’s stuck in there, it should be an easy fix,” Vega says from the crate he’s sitting on.

“Oh I tried, believe me,” Zaeed says, shaking his head. “But it’s stuck in there good. Melted in I think. She was firing non-stop in those final moments… I think the ol’ girl knew the end was comin’…”

The only one he hadn’t checked in on yet was Jack and he half-expected her to either be in the shuttle bay or the mess. But perhaps old habits die hard. He returns to the elevator to check the sub-deck. She is there all right, and she, like Samara, is in the middle of a call.

“I’m not mad, Jack.” Sanders’ voice rings clearly from her omni-tool. “I just wish I heard it from you rather than the students.”

“I didn’t want you know. Gives you plausible deniability.”

“But I could have covered your exit better. Sent the students off to help rebuild the school. Claim you went with them. Falsified records to make it seem as if you were actually there.”

“Look, I’m touched, really, but that’d just put you in deep sh… hot water with the new Council. I’ve been on this side of the law almost my whole life. I can look after myself.”

“Well, just know that the students and I support what you’re doing. And I’ll do what I can to defend you when you get back. If you need it.”

“You don’t need to go that far for me. But thanks,” She clears her throat and tries to seem gruff again. “So how the kids doing? Prangley still having trouble walking Eezo?”

Garrus smiles silently as he leaves. Once again, he wishes she were here with him to see how Jack is doing. She was smiling so brightly after the Grissom mission. Look at how far Jack had come.

  


* * *

  


When Shepard told the crew of her plans to surrender herself, the one who took it the worst was Jack. Of course, Shepard tried to deliver the news as gently as she could…

“First of all, I’d like to thank you for all your hard work. We came into this expecting a suicide mission, but we not only eliminated the Collector threat, but came out alive. You all surpassed my expectations and it was a pleasure and an honor working with you.”

“Wait, Shepard, why does this sound like a ‘good-bye’?” Jack interrupted.

Shepard winced before letting out a long sigh. Garrus and Tali snuck a look at each other. They didn’t like this either, but Shepard had a long private talk with them beforehand.

“Because it is. The mission is over. The Normandy will drop each of you off at whatever location you desire. I understand that—”

“That didn’t stop you before!” Jack cut in again.

“This is because of what happened to Bahak, isn’t it?” Miranda supplements.

Shepard nodded, barely managing to suppress a pained look.

“The Hegemony is demanding justice. If I don’t give myself up, they’ll go to war with the Alliance.”

“So let ‘em!” Jack argued. “What the hell did the Alliance ever do for you?! And the batarians are assholes! You know that better than anyone!”

Shepard’s hands gripped the table, trying to steel herself.

“The Reapers are coming. The destruction of Bahak only bought us a little time. The last thing we need now a war among ourselves.”

“But—”

“Jack, this isn’t about what is right or fair. This is about self-preservation.”

“Just what about offering yourself as scapegoat is self-preservation?!”

She lets go of the table, looking once again like the model soldier.

“If I don’t do this, it gives everyone less time and people to focus on what is important. The Reapers catch the galaxy unprepared, everyone dies. You, me, everyone.”

Garrus had never seen such complex emotion from Jack before. A mix of anger, sadness, and betrayal, but also understanding. For the rest of the meeting, she just hung her head and listen quietly. It ended without a further peep from her, but as everyone filed out to make their departure plans, she stayed behind. Tali and Garrus also lingered, curious as to what would happen.

“You fucked me up, Shepard,” she said, on the verge of tears.

“I thought Pragia did that.”

“I mean in a different way!” She began to pace across the room. “People set out to use me and throw me away! So I use them and kill them! That’s how it’s always been! That’s just the way it all works! Hell, you weren’t supposed to be any different! Just use me for this Collector Mission, then I blow up everyone on board before you hand me over to the Illusive Man! But you made me care! You made me trust you! Just in my short time here, you’re the closest thing I have to a loving family and now? Now, instead of throwing me away… you’re… you’re throwing yourself away…”

Shepard strode over and gave her a hug.

“I’m buying us time, Jack, that’s all I’m doing. The Alliance won’t just hand me over to the Hegemony. They’ll clog the whole process up as long as they can. In the meantime, everyone else can work on the outside, preparing for the war. Besides, you can’t let the Alliance catch you and try you for your crimes. Especially not with that vandalism charge.”

Jack laughed a bit in spite of herself.

“But I’m a pissed-off merciless bitch. How do you expect me to help?”

“You could do what I did after Mindoir,” Shepard told her, “and give that anger a focus, control it. But you’re the only one who can decide where your steps go.”


	6. Message from the Queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus and his ground team are welcomed into the chambers of the Rachni Queen, who tells them of her meeting with Shepard after the war. But what was supposed to be a quick meet-and-greet proves to be more dangerous than they originally anticipated...

The only other ships they saw orbiting Suen are of rachni model. Now that they are formally accepted as peaceful members of the galactic community, the building navy make sense, he tells himself. You’re just being paranoid, Garrus. Everything will be fine. He heads down to the shuttle bay and sees his chosen ground team waiting for him. Earlier, he had found out that the asari diplomat had already returned to Thessia, so consulted with the two asari already on board about acting as translator. Both expressed their willingness, but as Liara has actually met the Rachni Queen before, she is the one chosen. And in her absence, Miranda will take over tracking and parsing data about their pursuers, but this does little to ease the nervous prickles under his plates. After all, they’re likely to go very deep underground. They’ll be unable to receive any comm signals and they won’t be able to send them either. As they pile into the Kodiak, Garrus admits that it’s a lot more cramped than it was on missions with Shepard. The ground team is larger than he originally meant it to be. Paranoia, Garrus sighs again internally, but if all goes well, it shouldn’t matter.

On the surface of Suen, they find they already have a welcoming party. A number of Rachni workers and soldiers greet them with incomprehensible singing and part as if to show them the way to the Queen.

“You know, once you get over the fact that they look like spiders and lobsters and spit acid, they’re kinda adorable,” says James.

“We did not breed them to be so,” Javik growls. “They have gone soft.”

“They had gone nearly extinct. They nearly wiped out the galaxy the last time they were indoctrinated,” Liara snaps. They get along better than they used to, but she still bristles at his imperialistic tendencies.

“I can see why no one tried to talk to them first,” Jack says, nearly tripping over herself to avoid stepping on a worker.

“You know, everything seems more cuddly once Shepard is through with them,” Garrus quips, feigning more lightness than he actually feels. “Krogan, rachni, geth, Jack…”

This earns him a semi-serious sock on the arm from the woman in question.

“Maybe she can try her magic on thresher maw next,” he continues, unfazed. “Or the yahg.”

The path leads them to what appears to be a sinkhole just large enough to fit a single person. One by one, they climb in, workers nurturing the bioluminescent fungi that highlight the footholds. Eventually, the hole widens out into a deliberately sculpted cave with branching tunnels. Rachni of all types scuttle about the walls, all singing a unified song. There are numerous paths, but workers lead them to their destination by with lanterns carrying and sustaining the same fungi. Finally, the ground team enter the throne room, for lack of a better word. The Rachni Queen had become even more massive than last time and, Garrus will not deny, even more intimidating in appearance.

“I can see why you didn’t want to bring Grunt,” Jack tells him.

Fortunately, her overtures are friendly as she gently touches each of them with one of her antennae and coos a greeting. Liara then steps forward to commune with her. She bows her head, closes her eyes, turns around, and then starts twitching, her eyes rolled back in her head.

“We anticipated your colorless song,” she says with stilted words. “She who gained color to her voice had come before you.”

“You mean Shepard?” Garrus asks, looking up at the Rachni Queen.

“She had changed their note. No longer sour and yellow, but clear and blue. The oily shadows are gone, replaced by the light of many stars. Her being sings of life, of death, of grief and joy, of despair and hope, of loneliness and solitude. A complex song, but beautiful.”

“Wait, are you saying she’s not indoctrinated?”

“Their song has changed,” the Queen repeats, confused by the “colorlessness” of his words. “It seeks not to corrupt and preserve but to nurture and cherish. I do not know if it can color the songs of others for our own always rang of its own timbre and she left quickly. She did not want to soil the songs of our children. She does not wish to sing. She wishes to be silent.”

Wait, so what does this mean? Was Vigil wrong?

“Uh, is this whole song metaphor confusing anyone else?” James asks, scratching his head. “Your…er… Majesty, are you saying that Lola is suicidal now?”

“She dares not seek the great silence. She rang of others who would sour the notes. She merely does not want her song to taint the colorless.”

“I think what the Rachni Queen is saying is that Shepard is not indoctrinated, but is now the force of indoctrination itself,” Garrus breathes.

“We remember her forgiveness. We know the depths of her sacrifice. We sing of it to our children. She wished us not to speak of her, but we do not wish her to be deafened by solitude.”

Well, this certainly explains things. Not only the Reaper’s behavior, but why she couldn’t turn it off. And she would never want to indoctrinate anyone, not even to turn them into better people. Of course, she never needed indoctrination to do that, but if she’s emitting it all the time now…

“Thank you, Rachni Queen,” Garrus says, bowing his head respectfully.

Suddenly, the entire tunnel shakes with an explosion. Soldiers and brood warriors surround everyone, standing between them and the exit.

“Uh, Scars, is this normal?” James asks, reflexively reaching for his shotgun. Jack tenses up, glowing blue.

“Garrus, what’s going on?”

The rachni turn around and form a protective arc around them. So he wasn’t paranoid after all.

“Morgana.”

  


In space, all the rachni ships turned on their axis in orbit.

“Jeff, we have movement.”

“Yeah, I see it, EDI!”

Three are aiming their guns at the Normandy. Seven others are aiming at a single point on the ground. The rest are aiming at the offending ten.

“Well at least we’ve got friends,” Joker muses as he shifts the Normandy into battle settings.

“All hands, prepare for combat,” EDI announces throughout the ship.

All crew who are not already at their stations speed to them and buckle in. The Normandy accelerates, weaving through the ships pointing at the planet. The three ships follow, shooting at them. Several ally ships subsequently follow the three, but due to all the maneuvering, all shots hit the planet.

“Alert,” EDI announces suddenly, “the main gun is not sufficiently calibrated.”

“What?! But that’s impossible! Garrus perfected it before he left! You said so yourself!”

“Yes, but Tali has been cleaning the engine since,” EDI reports. “Calibrating the main gun displaces static electricity to the engine, allowing impurities to build up. The process of removing said impurities reintroduces static electricity into the targeting matrices, throwing off calibration. For the Normandy to maintain optimal performance in battle, both must be handled simultaneously.”

“Arrgh, so that’s why those two were always working!” Joker groans. “Why didn’t you tell Tali to hold off until Garrus gets back?!”

“After all his calibrating, the engine was in critical need of cleaning.”

“And why is 50/50 not an option?”

“We are currently at 50/50, Jeff.”

“God damn it! Who’s the idiot who made the weapons and engines sabotage each other?! Oh right. _Cerberus._ ” He makes his own announcement to the ship. “Someone get the gun calibrated!”

“Don’t worry, Joker! I’ll take care of it!” Ashley yells into her comm, running as fast as she can to the main battery. Okay, so most of her experience as a Gunnery Chief was actually groundside with turrets. The SR-1 never really got into a firefight. Still, she should be able to handle it, right? She opened up the terminal in the main battery and saw the sheer number of variables she had to tinker with. Not just the enemy ships’ velocity, acceleration, and flight path, but the Normandy’s own as well. On top of that is the planet’s gravitational well, the Thanix also has multiple options for the projectile’s mass… Ordinarily, the gun would calculate all these things automatically, but the static build-up is throwing off its figures. She takes a deep breath and wills herself not to be overwhelmed. Nothing like learning on the job, right? Maybe she can manage if she wings it? But suddenly she remembers another gunnery chief on the Citadel giving a lecture to recruits. “If you pull the trigger, you’re ruining someone’s day, somewhere and sometime.”

“Uh, EDI, I don’t suppose I can get a little help?”

  


Planetside, the tunnels echo and quake with the sound of distant thunder. And behind that thunder is footsteps. The ground team brace themselves and try to discern where the steps are coming from.

“Okay, I’m only going to ask this one more time,” says Jack. “What the hell going on?”

As if answering, Liara begins speaking very fast, an incomprehensible combination of random asari syllables and rachni song. Finally, Liara is released from the Queen’s hold. New sounds are added to the tunnels: gunshots, screaming, and hissing acid.

“I… I think this is what happened: Morgana’s people had stolen ships from rachni on other planets,” she explains, pressing her palms into her eyeballs, “and when she asked for them back, Morgana threatened to restart the Rachni extermination. As it’s very difficult for her to converse with the other races, the Queen was forced to stand down. She wants to change the view that rachni are savage and blood thirsty and communication with the other races is difficult enough. Morgana’s mercenaries have been secretly planting bombs and such inside the rachni hives. The rachni, in turn, have been removing them and planting them in hives that are still under construction, but her forces are still on Suen and in the stolen ships in orbit. She does not understand the news feeds and announcements, so she didn’t know the new Council doesn’t want Shepard to be found. She didn’t understand what was going on. Until now.”

James points in the general direction of the echoes.

“So… That’s a good thing, right, Doc? That’s just the rachni attacking the mercs?”

“Yes. She’s trying flushing them out of her hive. They are no longer welcome, Spectre authority or not.” Liara activates her heavy pistol. “Still, just because this is a hive doesn’t mean she doesn’t love all of her children. We should help.”

“And that thunder?” Garrus asks.

“Orbital bombardment.”

“Of course it is…” Garrus sighs, readying his assault rifle. “We’ll split up in teams of two. We’re an uneven number, so one of us will have to go alone. And no, Javik, it will not be you.”

Javik shuts his mouth in disappointment. Teams are quickly decided and they head out.

“This is Team Mako, testing frequencies,” says James over the comm. “Anyone read me, over.”

“‘Mako’?” Jack repeats. “What’s wrong with ‘Alpha’ ‘Bravo’ and all that other sh-…junk? Over.”

“Those are the kind of names those _pendejos_ would use, over.”

“Why are you defaulting to Alliance standard, Jack?” Liara asks.

“Worked with them during the war,” Jack admits grudgingly. “Over.”

“Well, once again, Team Prothean will build up the highest body count of all!” Javik interjects.

Jack’s sigh comes in a rush of static.

“Fine. Team Badass will play along. Hey, Tin Soldier, what about you, over?”

Garrus could only assume she was referring to him, since he’s the only “team” who had not reported in yet.

“Read you all loud and clear. And don’t think Tin Soldier will lag behind in the kill count.”

  


“All righ’ lessee what we got here,” growls Zaeed peering over Ashley’s shoulder. Out of everyone on the ship, he turned out to be the most experienced with gun calibration in ship-to-ship combat, though that was a long time back. She wants to be more reassured, but he has the nasty habit of “waxin’ goddamn nostalgic” during mealtimes and his stories typically end with him as the only survivor. Ashley curses her own weakness. She’s supposed to be a Spectre! She’s not supposed to be rattled by something like this! But she quickly reminds herself that Shepard never had to calibrate the gun of her own ship.

“Well, I got good news for you,” he says, reaching over and enlarging the topography map. “Tell me what you see here.”

Plains, mountains, valleys, craters, massive sinkholes that show signs of being filled in…

“No cities.”

“None on the surface anyway.” He gives her shoulder a fatherly pat before leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. “Good place for firin’ practice.”

Ashley thinks it over and realizes he’s right. The ground team would have been taken to see the Queen and she would have been in the most secure location, which in this case is deep underground. She looks over the numbers with a fresh resolve. She plugs in all the variables and determines the ideal flight path. The margin of error is too large for her liking, so she tries tinkering with the settings. Applying what she learned with turrets, the accuracy’s increased somewhat. Not to Garrus’s standards, but snipers are all about precision. Ash, on the other hand, is fonder of her boomstick.

“Okay. Let’s make them bleed.”

  


James hits a mercenary with a carnage shot. Liara backs him up with a warp, causing the surrounding mercs to be set aflame. Javik pulls his opponent into the air before shooting him into a chasm. Jack clears a tunnel with a shockwave. Garrus just uses the night vision built into his visor to quietly snipe at his targets. Sadly, his kill count is not as high as everyone else’s. His shots echo through the tunnels, confusing the mercs as to where the shot came from. That makes them all paranoid and they end up accusing each other of picking competition off to up their pay or outright panic and run into other tunnels where the rachni kill them.

“And that’s another three for us!” James cheers into the comm. “How you guys doing?”

“Shoving foes into the great abyss will never cease to be satisfying,” Javik reports.

“Yeah. One by one. Real practical there,” taunts Jack. “You wanna know how I did? Cleared a whole tunnel of those bas… baddies all by my lonesome.”

“Don’t get complacent,” Garrus responds. “There’s still plenty of time for things to go wrong.”

“Don’t say that!” Liara groans. “You make it happen just by mentioning it!”

And just as Liara feared, things did indeed go wrong. The ground begins to quake even more strongly and rocks are jarred loose from the walls and ceiling. Rachni and mercs all shriek, fleeing this way and that. Garrus himself nearly got crushed by boulders more than once. Eventually, the shaking subsides, but there’s no reason to believe that’s the end.

“Status report!” he barks.

“Team Mako is all right,” James replies. “Mainly because Doc erected a barrier to save us from the boulders.”

“Team Prothean is fine, but I appear to have lost sight of my teammate,” says Javik, a bit hard to hear through shuddering static.

“Still alive,” Jack pants. “But I’m deep shit. This barrier’s all that’s stopping the rocks from crushing me.”

“All right, hold on, Tats, we’re coming!” James yells.

“Regroup on Jack’s position!” Garrus orders, climbing over the fallen boulders to backtrack.

The rachni are already working to clear the tunnels and reinforce them from further damage, but still progress is slow. James is not very limber, so he has a harder time climbing over the rocks than Liara does. Javik tries to clear the rubble with his biotics, but the cave-in is simply too extensive. Jack’s holding for now and the rachni are trying to clear her burden as fast as possible, but until then, their added weight to the barrier.

“Come on! This is much harder than holding off seeker swarms!” she groans.

“Hold on, Jack! We’re on our way!” Garrus yells.

Rachni soldiers lead him down the more intact tunnels. Jack’s signal is getting stronger and her panting means she’s still alive. He might make it in time. But he immediately regrets that thought. A salarian and a couple of barefaced traitors cut him off. Elsewhere, Liara and James are surrounded by an asari, two krogan, and their vorcha henchmen. Javik finds himself in a similar situation, cornered by a three humans and a drell. And Jack can hear the shrieks of rachni being murdered above her. The rubble in the front clears away revealing an asari vanguard flanked by her entourage.

“Shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I totally made up the calibration and the engine cleaning sabotaging each other. It just made the most sense because attempts to romance Garrus and Tali on separate Shepards resulted in repeated "CALIBRATIONS!" and "ENGINE CLEANSING!" I don't know if the explanation I made up is scientifically sound. I know next to nothing about weapon calibration and engines. It just made sense that the two parts of the ship were working against each other since Garrus and Tali just would not stop doing either. Then again, Tali joins much later than Garrus does... Either Ken and Gabby managed before she arrived or EDI is just spoiled by immaculate engines...


	7. The Buddy System

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Each team finds itself outnumbered against Morgana's forces and, worse, Jack's situation prevents her from fighting back. With Garrus and Javik forced to face their adversaries alone and Liara and James fleeing from their own, will Jack be saved in time?

“Well that could have gone better,” Ashley mutters under her breath. Yeah, she did hit one, and they weren’t using the main gun, so the planet isn’t as hard as it could have been. But on the downside, the fallen enemy ship crashes into the planet about where the ground team was let off and she accidentally nicked a few ally ships in her verve.

“Baby steps. You’re doin’ all righ for a beginner.”

The other seven enemy ships are now firing at the planet and the two remaining ships maintain the chase. Joker does a good job avoiding shots so far, hitting at close range when he can. However, this is complicated by the fact that the ally fleet has now opened fire and the enemy ships are being forced to scatter. The Normandy gets hit a few times by friendly fire, but the fleet’s intervention means that they is no longer a priority. Joker takes this opportunity to exit the firefight. As the rachni ships all fight among each other some distance away, he finally relaxes in his seat.

“Status report!”

“Shields stable at 72%. Armor 98%. No casualties to onboard crew.”

“Wait, are you saying that someone on the ground team died?”

“No. My scanning frequencies cannot penetrate that deep underground. I was merely relaying the extent of ship damage.”

“And how are you doing, Ash?” Joker relays into the comm.

“I’ll feel better once the ground team is aboard, especially Garrus,” she answers back. “Maybe I’ll even get him to teach me how to calibrate the thanix. Being gunny of a ship is very different from gunny of a colony.”

Joker chuckles and watches the fight in Suen’s upper atmosphere. The rachni fleet has the stolen ships outnumbered and their link to the Queen has them moving seamlessly with perfect teamwork. Easy to see how they were a serious threat to the galaxy once. Still, he can’t help wincing every time a shot hits the planet’s surface.

“Joker, EDI, we’ve got a problem,” Miranda suddenly reports from Liara’s room. “The Thelema has just jumped from Pangaea Expanse.”

“Vent all excess heat! Prepare to initiate stealth!” Joker tells EDI.

“She’s entered Maskim Xul,” Miranda tells him. “ETA to Suen, 2 hours.”

In the shuttle bay, Cortez waits next to the Kodiak.

“Should we assemble a second team to help them out?” he asks.

“Negative, it’s too hot,” answers Ashley, watching the fight from the gunnery terminal. “We have to hope the fight ends before Morgana arrives.”

“Some road trip,” Joker groans.

  


“The famous Garrus Vakarian,” drawls one of the bare-faced turians. “It’s truly an honor.”

There might have been a Garrus Vakarian who would have exchanged banter with this man. He might have been a younger turian or had a tactical reason to keep him distracted or would simply have time to indulge. But the Garrus Vakarian now is none of those things. He throws a proximity mine at the salarian and dives into a nearby tunnel. Rachni soldiers attempt to cover his exit, but judging by the sounds of gunshots, it’s not going too well for them. The remaining soldiers attempt to find him a detour and workers are collecting on the ceiling behind him. Just as the three mercenaries catch up, the workers cause a cave-in right on top of them. Judging from their yells and gunshots, they survived, but he doesn’t care much. Just so long as they don’t catch up before they relieve Jack.

  


Elsewhere, James and Liara are back to back, facing down their group.

“You ready, Doc?”

Liara answers by caving in the ceiling around them. The asari and one of the krogan counter with their own biotics, but the other krogan and several vorcha end up trapped under the rubble. The two vault over the pile of rocks and take off running. They hear the rachni attack the vorcha behind them, but the asari and krogan are still hot on their tail. A rachni soldier signals at them to turn a corner, so they follow. However, Vega then pauses to throw a frag grenade. That ought to buy them some time.

  


Meanwhile, Javik, though holding his own, is having a bit of trouble. He has only one pile of boulders for cover and the tunnel behind him is completely caved in. There are chasms on his right and left, but his opponents are keeping enough distance to prevent him from throwing them in. And just his luck, he’s out of grenades to flush them out of hiding. He’s already tried hitting them with his biotics, but they’ve already torn down his barriers and are keeping him pinned with suppressive fire. It is the first time he cursed himself for his love of throwing people out airlocks and into bottomless pits. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been so quick to snub his partner either. If they stuck together, the situation might have been different.

  


Jack struggles to maintain the barrier, but as she looks on, the asari vanguard is charging up her own biotics. Her three henchmen smile and laugh, knowing they won’t need to do anything. One warp shot. That’s all it’d take. The last time she felt this helpless was back on Pragia. After Grissom Academy—or hell, the Collector Mission for that matter—she never imagined she’d die alone like this. Years and years of being used, betrayed, and just when she finally felt comfortable trusting in people again, they’re not there. Well, that’s not exactly fair to them. It’s not like they’re not trying… She was assigned a partner, but after the tunnel collapse, who knows what happened to him.

  


Garrus decides to try to confuse his pursuers further by going up instead of forward. He regrets it immediately because even though he chose one of the larger tunnels meant for brood warriors, his armor makes him bigger than he actually is and makes crawling especially uncomfortable. He winces at the sound of his cowl scraping against the ceiling and his spurs against the walls. There is no pain, but the noise is going to give him away. Even more distressing, he keeps finding himself going upward rather than going back down. At this rate, he won’t make it to Jack in time. He’s about to reverse his crawl when he hears a voice from his omni-tool, an accent that humans call “British”.

“-vik? Lia-…-mes? Do you rea-… -Does anyone read me? Hello?”

“Garrus here. I read you Traynor.”

“Oh thank god. Thelema is in the system. We’ve got Cortez waiting on standby to pick you up, but the fight in orbit’s too hot. We don’t know what she plans to do once she’s here, so you’ve got to get off that planet now!”

“How much time to we have?”

“Morgana will be here in an hour and forty minutes! Cortez will take at least twenty!”

“Got it. We’ll make our way up now.”

He backtracks, but finds a better fitting tunnel along the way down. Freshly made too, judging from the scent of acid. The rachni obviously want him to go that way.

  


A spherical object rolls to the feet of the drell. Buried in the heat of the moment, none of them notice. A few seconds later, it explodes. It doesn’t do much damage, but it does blind them and wreak havoc on their inner ears. Kasumi Goto then backstabs one of the humans for good measure.

“How you holding up there, Javik?”

The prothean emerges from cover and only pauses to finish off one of the other humans. He would have killed the rest, but they are already recovering from the flashbang. He and Kasumi run down the tunnel and follow the path the rachni signal.

“You accursed human creature!” he yells at her. “Why did you not aid me sooner?!”

“Well, I didn’t think Team Prothean wanted me cramping his style.”

Javik sighs. Perhaps he hasn’t been giving these primitives enough credit. They did succeed where his people have failed… even if they were heavily reliant on his people’s blueprints for the Crucible.

“I apologize for that.”

“Apology accepted. You know, I really do think we could have a good dynamic for permanent partnership. What do you say?”

This strange human creature, in his abode, rifling through what few personal possessions he has, leaving her biological traces everywhere?

“You presume too much.”

  


Unbeknownst to the asari vanguard, a red dot has found its way to the back of her head. Before she can throw her warp field, she’s hit by an overload. Her barriers are blown, her muscles convulse momentarily, and her biotic focus is broken.

“What the?”

Her eye falls on the geth stalker camouflaged on the ceiling. Just as it’s aiming its red eye at her forehead. An instant later, a shot rings out.

“Boss!” cries a human, clutching at her corpse. The other two shoot at the geth, but it’s already hopping around all over the tunnels. At one point, it even hops in front of the mourning human, tricking them into killing their partner.

“Aw shit!”

“Hoppy little bastard!”

While one keeps trying to shoot him, the other aims his assault rifle at Jack’s barrier. Frog only spares one second to sabotage the weapon, but that one second is all that is needed to cut through his shields.

“Quick! Concentrate fire on that thing! We almost got it!”

Frog leads them down the tunnels, further and further away from Jack. Unlike the primes, hunters, and troopers, he can’t exactly hold his own in a firefight. Alone, he can only serve as a nuisance to his adversaries. Alone and exposed that is… Once they’re far enough away from Jack, Frog leaps into a ceiling tunnel and vanishes. They cast their flashlights up into the hole, but it curves and they lose him.

“Damn! Where’d it go?”

“Come on. Let’s go finish off that bi—”

The mercenary falls over, a hole straight through the head.

“Damn!” the other one screams, swinging his gun around like a maniac. Heightened adrenaline levels. Increased pulse. Increased blood flow to the extremities. Hyperventilation. Target is operating purely out of self-defense now.

“If you wish to end hostilities and leave, I will not stop you,” Frog announces, synthetic voice echoing through the tunnels.

The mercenary spins around, casting his light about. It doesn’t do much good. Frog is still hidden and his light trembles so violently, he wouldn’t get a good look at anything anyway.

“Y-you promise?”

“Yes. However, I cannot speak for anyone else. If you aid my teammate, your survival probability in the tunnels will increase 64.72%. Probability of leaving Suen alive will increase 34.89%”

He thinks it over for a minute before finally putting his weapon away. Frog crawls down from his hiding place and lights up his flashlight eye.

“Please follow me.”

  


When Liara and James arrive, they find Jack surrounded by rocks, utterly exhausted on the floor, but alive. Sitting on a rock nearby is the mercenary, surrounded by soldiers ready to spear him and Frog keeping a close red eye on him from the ceiling. James immediately runs over to help Jack up.

“Frog, how’d you manage to talk one of Morgana’s men into helping?” Liara asks.

“Legion had observed that if the target had lost the will to fight beyond self-defense, Shepard-Commander would permit them to leave or attempt to negotiate mutually favorable terms.”

“Hmph. Mercy from a synthetic,” grunts Javik, who arrives at the other end of the tunnel. “A laughable notion.”

“Well Legion always had something funny to say,” chirrups Kasumi, walking up next to him, “though I don’t think he himself saw the punchline.”

Garrus finally arrives, dropping down from the ceiling.

“Jack, glad you made it out all right. But we need to keep moving. My detour took me close enough to the surface for Traynor to reach me. The Thelema is in the system. Cortez will be picking us up in at least fifteen minutes. We have to get to the surface.”

“Doc and I didn’t get rid of all the mercs,” James reports.

“Same for us, actually,” Kasumi confesses.

Suddenly a shot rings out. The remaining merc falls over with a hole in his head.

“Javik!”

Liara glares at the prothean, but he is unapologetic.

“Once he learns his compatriots are still alive, he has no reason to be cooperative.”

Frog just looks at the dead body, as if disappointed at the pointlessness. However, he quickly recovers and retreats into the tunnels overhead and Kasumi follows close behind. Footsteps echo throughout the room. The mercenaries have finally caught up. The ground team quickly take cover within the ring of boulders, arms ready, but it doesn’t negate the fact that they’re currently surrounded.

“Ugh! Finally!” growls the krogan, prepping his shotgun.

The asari initiates with a shockwave to blow the rocks into them, but Jack neutralizes it with one of her own. She’s come out of her ordeal exhausted and with a splitting headache, but the combination of anger and adrenaline give her the boost she needs. Frog follows up by popping briefly out of his hiding place and prepares to snipe the asari in the back of the head.

“Geth!” yells one of the turians, aiming his weapon.

The asari instantly turns around to look. Instead of sniping, Frog chooses to hit her with an overload instead, just in time for her own teammate’s bullet to hit her in the back of the head.

“Idiot!” bellows the krogan.

Mayhem ensues. The two sides exchange fire, but it becomes obvious that Morgana’s forces do not have the same cohesive teamwork they do. While the ground team supplements each other, the mercenaries care little about anything other than hitting their targets. Garrus and James double team the krogan by setting him on fire before switching to the salarian and turians Liara and Javik floored with biotics. As the krogan flails around like a madman, Kasumi and Frog end him with a backstab/sniping combo. Jack levitates the drell and human in the air and Liara and Javik splatter them against the walls. The entire battle is very quick, very brutal, but also oddly satisfying.

“Man, after mowing down husks and facing Reapers head on, this feels too easy,” laughs James.

“Hmph. Primitives. So used to a life of ease that such a fight is considered boring. In my cycle, this would be considered relaxing.”

“Will you all quit shooting the shit so we can get back to the ship?” growls Jack, clutching her head. “I have a blinder of a headache and it was Frog and the merc who dug me out instead of you fuckers!”

“Jack’s right,” Garrus cuts in. “We need to get back to the surface. Or close to enough to get back in contact with the Normandy anyway. Morgana’s coming and I don’t want to be down here when she arrives.”

So they move. Once again, the rachni show them the way to go. Garrus suspects that they are building new tunnels to act as shortcuts because there’s a distinct stench of acid in several of them. As they get closer and closer to the surface, the sound of thunder gets louder and the quakes more frequent. It’s Liara and Javik’s turn to create long term biotic shields for the ground team, but along the way, rachni brood warriors join in to ease their burden.

“Where the hell were you guys earlier?!” yells Jack, giving one a spiteful kick.

The quakes and thunder ease up above and, finally, they get close enough to the surface for Cortez to get through.

“…diak to Ground Team! Do you read me?”

“I read you, Cortez,” Garrus says, sighing with relief. “Any update on the situation?”

“The rachni ships managed to drive hostiles away from the landing site, so I’m on my way now. ETA ten minutes, but they’re starting to come back. On top of that, we need to get out before Thelema is in sensor range.”

“Understood. We’ll get there as soon as we can.”

They pick up the pace. The bombardment returns, making progress difficult. Several times, someone stumbles and the biotics strain to keep the barrier intact. Ahead, Garrus can see the twilight.

“Keep moving! We’re almost there!”

They take off running and emerge in the middle of a crater. Above, he can see the lights of the rachni ships, darting and weaving like fireflies, as well as the lights of the incoming bombardment. The Kodiak, which had been airborne to dodge, slows to a hover before them.

“Inside!” yells Cortez. “Now! Move! Move! Move!”

Everyone piles in and the shuttle takes off just before the artillery breaks the atmosphere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I personally find sneaky gameplay more satisfying that upfront fighting gameplay. I like sniping (though I won't deny that Vanguard Charge is so much fun) and was always disappointed that Kasumi's sneaky abilities weren't used to their highest potential. I also thought that Saren didn't use the hopper geth models well. If their defense was weak and they were so limber and flexible with sniping capabilities, why have them jumping all over the place in the open when they could be hiding in hard to reach places? But then I realized that would turn gameplay into essentially "whack-a-mole"...


	8. Nap Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus wakes up in the middle of the night cycle after the mission on Suen and Frog informs him that Miranda has some updates for him: progression in Liara's plans, a warning from Wrex, and... a ransom(?) note from Aria.

Garrus and Shepard found Tali pressed against the window in Starboard Observation. They did not need to worry about disturbing Samara seeing as she, Kasumi, and Miranda had already been dropped off on Illium. Likewise, Zaeed, Jacob, and Jack parted from the ship on Omega, Mordin and Thane got off on the Citadel, and Grunt was probably headbutting other krogan on Tuchanka by now. The only other squadmate still on the ship was Legion, but that was to change very soon. This was very likely the first time a quarian had looked at their homeworld in person in three hundred years.

“It looks exactly like it did in my history books,” she said in hushed tones. “The sprawling cities, the grand structures, the enormous palaces back when we had kings, even the ancient art of our forefathers etched into the earth itself, made before we knew how to harness the power of electricity. I… I think I can even see farms…”

“It really is beautiful from here,” whispered Shepard, now mirroring Tali with her forehead and hands against the glass. “Your people have a lot to look forward to when they return, I think.”

“But it wasn’t what I was expecting,” Tali said, fretting now. “I was expecting it to be overrun with geth constructions. Enormous bases for servers. Entire areas stripped of resources. I didn’t think they’d leave any traces of us on the planet’s surface.”

“Tali, what do you remember of Haestrom?” she asked, smiling that soft smile of hers.

“Geth mostly.”

“Walls of stone,” she corrected. “Halls your people once walked with uncovered heads. The geth hadn’t done anything to it.”

This threw Tali for a moment, but she quickly recovered.

“Well, Haestrom’s sun, being what it was, probably prevented the geth from doing much.”

“Tali, have you ever talked with Legion?”

“No.” Her voice rang a little stubborn that time.

“Well I have. They told me that the geth mine their resources from asteroids and are working to build a Dyson Sphere. They don’t actually need the homeworld. They’re just maintaining it for the day you return, either when your people are willing to coexist peacefully or when the Dyson Sphere is finished and they are no longer bound by the server hubs in orbit and on the planet.”

“And you believe them?”

“Can you look out at that planet, at the grandest achievements in quarian architecture, and not believe?”

Tali pressed her helmet against the glass again and sighs.

“No…”

They spend another moment in silence together when Legion entered.

“Shepard-Commander, preparations have been complete. We are ready to disembark at any time.”

Shepard tore herself away from the window to shake Legion’s hand.

“It’s been a pleasure working with you, Legion.”

They reciprocated the motion, better understanding how it was done after the first time. However, their plates flicked and shifted, as if struggling to the find the words.

“Would you be willing to explain why you chose to destroy the heretics? We are not questioning your actions. We merely wish to understand your perspective. Organics do not follow the same logic as synthetics.”

She gave them a sad sort of smile.

“You are aware of my history and service record?”

“Born and dwelled on Mindoir until the batarian raid in 2170. Protected the human colony, Elysium, from batarian funded attack in 2176.”

“I can’t stand slavery,” she tells them, “especially the way batarians do it. To torture a person until they break, until they have lost all will to fight. To implant a chip in their heads, so that they don’t even dare to think anything their masters don’t want them to… It’s sickening. I never thought I’d find anything I hated more, until I found out about Reaper indoctrination.”

She paced about the room.

“I don’t know how much geth value personal freedoms. Perhaps it lends back to how individualistic at least humans tend to be. But I’d rather die than have someone else dictate how I think. And I think you understand that. It’s why your people left the heretics alone until they threatened your own ability to self-determinate, as you put it.”

Their aperture rotated, expanded, and shrunk as they mulled it over. Finally, they nodded.

“Shepard-Commander, we would also like to extend the same offer Urdnot Wrex gave you on Tuchanka. We believe the course of action you are about to take is counter-productive. The damage done to batarian space, though necessary, was considerable. The Alliance will not allow you the freedom you require until it is too late.”

“I know that. But I still have to try and hope someone will listen.”

“You can prepare for the Old Machines on Rannoch,” they said, their synthetic voice actually sounding hopeful.

Shepard’s laugh was painful, but not cruel.

“That would leave me even more isolated than I’d be in an Alliance cell. And add accusations I’m becoming like Saren on top of all my other charges. Besides, it’s a planet of dextro life forms. There’s no way you’d be able to feed me.”

Legion’s head drooped, unable to deny the logic. Shepard gave them a hug.

“I’m sorry, Legion, but I can’t be the first organic to step on Rannoch in three hundred years. It’s just not right.”

“Understood, Shepard-Commander.”

Legion turned to leave, it’s body seemingly heavier than usual. Do geth feel sadness?

“Legion,” Tali called out, her voice lacking the harshness it usually had when she spoke to them. They turned their head at the sound. She wrung her hands as she always did when she was nervous. “Can… we keep in touch?”

The weight on their body seemed to lift a bit.

“That would be most welcome.”

  


* * *

  


Garrus slowly wakes. A flashlight eye is staring him right in the face.

“Gaah!”

He reflexively activates his omni-blade and stabs the flashlight before his senses catch up with him. Once again, Frog needs replacement optics.

“Oh, Frog, you need to stop doing that!”

“My apologies,” says Frog, already removing the damaged portion of its “face” and replacing it with a new one. Apparently, this happens quite often. “Ms. Lawson reports that she has some interesting news for you. However, she specified that I should wait until you wake naturally.”

Garrus sits up and immediately felt a crick in his neck. He had nodded off in the middle of calibrating the main gun. He checks his chronometer. They’re in the middle of the “night” shift.

“EDI, is Miranda still awake?”

“Yes.”

“All right. Thanks for the update, Frog. You too, EDI.”

“You are welcome.”

“Logging you out.”

  


As he steps out into the mess, he can hear Gardner clunking about in the vents above and cursing repeatedly.

“Guess I should be thankful that this thing’s completely freeze-dried, but still. Blech.”

For once, the rest of the mess is empty, save one person. Samara had apparently chosen to take a break from meditating in Starboard Observation and is sipping tea. Upon seeing him, she puts her cup down and nods at him.

“I have been hoping to talk to you.”

He takes a seat across from her.

“What about?”

“I, along with the rest of the crew, have been keeping abreast with the news of what Shepard may or may not be. I merely wish to know something.”

He hopes it’s not the same question Javik demanded of him last time.

“If she is still herself, but radiating indoctrination as she fears and cannot allow you to stay with her, what will you do?”

Not the same question, but one he hasn’t allowed himself to address since leaving Suen. Which wasn’t too hard considering how the entire ground team was so tired out they promptly went to their rooms and fell asleep. Still, Samara is asking and she’s nice enough to do so when there’s no one else around to hear.

“I don’t know.”

When Shepard died the first time, he tried to lose himself in cleaning up Omega. It was a completely futile task that was highly likely to end in death and looking back, not exactly the best way to cope. If the Council was so determined not to admit the truth that they’d drag her name through the dirt, he should have been the one to stand up for her and keep preparing for the Reapers, which is basically what Wrex had done. And now that he realizes it, he can’t believe a krogan acted more reasonably than he did. He did it right the second time around, but Shepard wasn’t dead, just imprisoned. That time, it was only a matter of waiting. But this case is different. She’s alive, in a manner of speaking, and she’s out there. But she wants him to give up on her and dedicate himself to rebuilding. She outright told him as much. And he knows he should. That is what a good turian would do. But he was never a good turian.

“I… I would want to stay with her anyway.”

He looks up and finds Samara smiling sadly at him.

“I believe what Shepard is experiencing right now is similar to an Ardat-Yakshi in love. She can never be certain if your proclamations of love are true or simply her hold over you. She cannot share her life with you or else you would deteriorate in her very arms. And unlike an Ardat-Yakshi, it’d take place over time rather than in an instant. To watch your beloved die slowly must be even more agonizing.”

“But I do love her. She knows that. And she loves me just as much…”

  


* * *

  


He remembers that conversation before the final push. Her skin was ashen, her eyes were red, and the dark bags under her eyes were more pronounced than ever, but still she held it together, presenting herself as the stalwart commander everyone needed her to be. It was only when she stood before him that he saw that facade fracture just a bit. It was with him that she allowed herself one moment of fear.

“Think we’re going to lose?”

That's right… She was but a mere human being. One who regularly found herself in extraordinary circumstances, but no one was more surprised than she at her own survival, at what she achieved. And with an entire armada of Reapers now bearing down, surrounded by the ruins of her homeworld, feeling so so small, she was wondering just how much she was pushing her luck, wondering if she would fail everyone who relied on her.

So he gently reminded her, reminded her that it wasn’t just her in this fight, but everyone. How none of this would have been possible without her. Reminded her that this isn't the end, but the beginning. How much they have to look forward to when they could finally stop being soldiers. Her face regained a bit of color and her smile further strengthened his own resolve. The fact that she too wished for a family, with him…

  


* * *

  


“Samara, what should I do?”

Samara takes a long sip, taking the time to savor the taste of her tea.

“Leave her to her self-imposed exile,” she says, her face becoming the cold and emotionless mask that enabled her to what she must as a justicar. “As long as she is separated from others, she cannot hurt anyone.”

His gizzard churns and his plates tingle. No, he can’t accept that!

“At least, that is what the Code would demand of righteous Ardat-Yakshi.”

At this, he looks up at her. The coldness had melted away from her face. “However, Shepard’s condition is wholly unique and thus not covered by the Code, so I will default to what Shepard herself would probably say: do what you feel is right.”

With that, she gives him another smile, warmer this time, and a fond pat on the shoulder before she returns to Starboard Observation. Do what feels right. His relationship with Shepard was one of the few things that did feel right. Awkward often, clumsy at times, but right on its deepest level. Some people would call them crazy for falling in love with each other when they were different species and neither of them were an asari, but they found a way to make it work. That’s all they really need. A way to make this work.

  


In the Shadow Broker’s room, Liara sleeps peacefully on the bed while Miranda works at the terminals as quietly as she can. It’s obviously a struggle because she’s doubled over and valiantly trying to suppress her laughter right now.

“What are you looking at?” Garrus whispers.

He looks at the screens and sees Urdnot Wrex and a rachni speaking through an asari making an announcement, Primarch Victus making a speech, and groups of protestors with hanar being the most numerous for some reason.

“As expected, the krogan and the rachni are demanding the Council’s impeachment over the unprovoked violence on their respective homeworlds. They want a complete dissolution of the established Council in favor of the less exclusive one Quentius is striving for. If their demand is not met, they are going to restart the Krogan Rebellions and the Rachni Wars simultaneously, but specify they’re only targeting the salarians and asari.”

“Not the turians?”

“The turians lost their seat on the ‘official’ Council since Quentius resigned in disgust. Primarch Victus is publicly supporting him and stated the turians’ stance on the impending war: if the krogan and the rachni do not involve them, then they will not involve themselves.”

“So the asari and salarians will have to fight the war without their primary military forces.”

“Krogan and rachni are both emphasizing that the impeachment of the asari and salarian councilors is the baseline requirement for them to back down. In other words, if it happens at all, it is the fault of two people. As you can imagine, the pressure on them is massive.”

“But why are the hanar so adamant?”

At this, Miranda strains to swallow a guffaw.

“Jondum Bau ‘accidentally’ leaked that Javik has joined us on this mission and that by doing so, the Council proclaimed him a fugitive with the rest of us. The hanar are claiming that not even the Council have the right to condemn the last living Enkindler as a criminal.”

Garrus is suddenly struck with the mental image of masses of hanar, bowing before Javik and worshiping him as a god. He hopes Javik doesn’t choose to settle down on Kahje. He’s arrogant enough as is.

“But now for the real reason I summoned you here,” Miranda continues, after a moment to collect herself. “I apologize in advance for reading your messages, but you really should read them more often. First is this.”

> From: Urdnot Wrex  
>  To: Garrus Vakarian  
>  Subject: Decima escaped
> 
> Garrus,  
>  A couple of idiot turians here for survival training decided to grab a shuttle and check out Kalros’ hunting grounds before their training actually began. They were knocked out by a bunch of proximity mines and when they came to, their shuttle was gone. We only found them just now (starving, dehydrated, but alive if you’re wondering), so she might’ve regained some distance on you. She’s probably still injured, but all the same, watch your back.
> 
> -Wrex

Oh, he forgot all about those. Oops. Maybe getting the proximity mine upgrade after the war was a bad idea. Well, it’s not like they could have turned back to retrieve them at the time. As for Decima, he’s disappointed, but not surprised. She managed to escape a Destroyer Reaper, an army of Cerberus drones, and Samara all at the same time. Kalros didn’t exactly search the field after claiming the quarian ship and they couldn’t afford to be thorough.

“Guess we’ll just have to hope she goes to a hospital instead.”

“Second, we’ve been scouring for data on the two Spectres,” says Miranda, replacing the videos with files and photographs. They are mostly of Morgana, which isn’t too surprising considering the asari lifespan. But for some reason, there are X’s over all Decima relevant screens of her childhood.

“That’s the human symbol for rejection, right? Why are these rejected?”

“We suspect those items are forgeries and require greater scrutiny.”

“So there’s nothing legit on Decima’s childhood? What school she went to? Where she lived on Triginta Petra? Her parents’ jobs there?”

“At this point, her life from her birth to her transfer to Digiteris is a mystery. The colony’s remoteness and low profitability mean the Hierarchy is not as vigilant with it as it is with more successful ones. We’re already trying to approach this from different angles and there might be a lead.”

“‘Might be’?”

“We’ll tell you the details if it turns out to have substance. I don’t want to distract you with something that may turn out to be false. But we do have something definite on Morgana.”

Miranda brings up ship rosters of the Thelema before and after the acid incident. Aside from Morgana, there was a complete turnover.

“As you can see, she completely replaced the crew after the incident. I finally got into contact with the former gunnery chief, Dazna Saranis. Apparently, Morgana was so traumatized by the incident that she killed her medical officer immediately after treatment. Upon realizing what she did, she replaced her with one of the slaves they rescued. Upon docking, Morgana dismissed the entire crew, replacing them with the slaves they rescued and, quite fishy, her report did not list the names of the slaves alive or dead. At the time, Dazna believed that she was still traumatized and wanted to give the slaves jobs on the ship to transition them back to normalcy. But when her reputation changed so suddenly, she was no longer sure.”

For some reason, Garrus is getting bizarre flashbacks to their shore leave on the Citadel.

“So this person is actually an imposter.”

“We have no proof, but it’s a distinct possibility,” she says, bringing a message onto a different screen. “Last item of interest is this.”

> From: Aria T’Loak  
>  To: Garrus Vakarian  
>  Subject: You want her back, right?
> 
> Get your ass to Afterlife now. Leave Dr. T’Soni on the ship.

What is this? A threat? A ransom demand? Is she actually implying that she has Shepard? Or did Shepard visit her and this is just Aria’s way of telling him? He could never tell with that asari.

“Any idea what that’s about?” he asks Miranda. The former Cerberus officer looks through the databanks.

“Cerberus had a number of experiments running on Omega before Aria took it back. I don’t know how many she allowed to continue and how many she ended, but I think the one most relevant to our interests was the experiment on indoctrination.”

“Like what Saren tried to do on Virmire?”

“Not quite. They abducted one already in progress, which was being done in tandem with Dr. Bryson’s research into the Leviathan. In order to minimize the risk as much as possible, Dr. Todil Kuvai conducted his work in space. He lived on his ship, which was prepped and ready to leave at any moment, and all interaction with the Reaper pieces he collected were done in a separate space station remotely through mechs. Also, his tests subjects were all animals like rats. Cerberus kidnapped him and his work and towed them to Omega shortly before Aria took it back. All records of his movements end there, so he either died during the war or he’s still on Omega.”

A scientist who researched indoctrination. This is it. This is how they can make it work.

  


“Joker!”

“Ssshhh…” whispers EDI, who is covering Joker in a blanket. The flight lieutenant fell asleep in the pilot’s chair again.

“Oh, sorry, EDI.”

“That’s quite all right,” she says, giving Joker a peck on the cheek before returning to the co-pilot’s chair. “I take your urgent tone to mean that you have a destination?”

“Omega. But, uh, we can save the relay jump for when he wakes up.”


	9. Rest Stop at Omega

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a surprising display of generosity, Aria T'Loak gives the Normandy crew the indoctrination researcher and his projects. Now they have exactly what they need to speak to Shepard face to face without worry or fear! Assuming they can get off this station alive...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I admit I'm making up quite a bit about indoctrination. If it seems like a stretch in terms of mechanics, the reason is "Reapers". (With fingerquotes.)

As per Aria’s demand, Liara stays on the ship with Joker, Cortez, Adams, and Traynor. Tali, the Donnellys, and Frog head to the marketplace to see if they can find anything that will solve the calibration/engine cleaning issue (as well as replacements for the optics Frog keeps losing). James, Grunt, and Gardner go grocery shopping (James because he wants real food for once and Grunt just has a hankering for Fishdog Food Shack). Kasumi promptly cloaked once she left the ship, so he has no idea where she went. Everyone else heads to Afterlife. Zaeed trades war stories with other mercenaries at the bar. Chakwas browses the liquor selection for her old favorite, while EDI asks the bartender about palatable virgin cocktails. Jack goes out on the dance floor and lets the music move her. And although he meant to speak to Aria in private, Ashley, Miranda, Samara, and Javik insist on joining him in the meeting.

“Is this meant to intimidate me?” scoffs the self-proclaimed Omega queen.

“Well in fairness, you worded your message like a ransom demand.”

“A random demand without an actual ransom? Hmph. Do someone a favor and they get all offended. How typical.”

“So you are helping him out of the goodness of your heart?” asks Samara.

“No, she’s not,” snaps Garrus. “Aria doesn’t do favors.”

“Of course I do. Makes people owe me something. And I could do with having the debt of potentially the most powerful force in the galaxy.”

He feels the blood run cold in his veins.

“You mean Shepard,” Ashley growls.

“Of course I mean Shepard. Just by what the Reapers did immediately after the war ended, I have a pretty good guess as to what she wants. And I have it.”

“Are you talking about Dr. Todil Kuvai’s research?” Miranda asks.

“He got lucky. I retook Omega so soon after Cerberus abducted him, they had no time to corrupt his research. His work has been slow, for a salarian, but he managed to produce some breakthroughs. Detection tools for one. Very useful while the war was still going. Long term indoctrination blocker, too big to be integrated into armor unfortunately, but good enough for buildings and ships. He eventually managed to size it down to a portable form, but that didn’t happen until the war was over and that version is more short term anyway. But if you’re chasing after Shepard, the portable version should serve nicely and I’m even willing to lend you the long-term device. It’s not like I’m using it right now.”

“And what’s the duration on these things?” Ashley cuts in.

“Three months, give or take a few days. The long term version would hold it off for five years, so or he claims. You should really thank me you know. He wouldn’t have continued if I hadn’t convinced him to.”

She nods her head at Bray.

“Take them to the ship.”

And with that, the conversation was over.

  


After stopping briefly at the bar to fetch EDI, the group follows Bray to the docks. They see a small space station floating outside the window. Bray stops at the dock of a salarian frigate, but the door is locked. He growls.

“I know you’re in there, Kuvai!”

“What?” snaps a high-pitched salarian voice on the intercom. “You going to make me continue my now pointless research? Oh let me guess. You want me to find a way to flip the indoctrination on the Reapers so you can make them tap dance for Aria!”

“That’d entertain her immensely, but no. You’re being… well… for the lack of a better word, transferred.”

“Oh terrific!” he yells sarcastically. “Where? To whom?”

Bray steps aside and signals for Garrus to take over. He gives an awkward cough and tries to sound as pleasant as possible.

“Dr. Todil Kuvai, I’m Garrus Vakarian.”

This just makes the salarian groan even louder.

“Excellent! Most excellent! The crew of the Normandy’s here! The great heroes-now-fugitives! Of course! I wanted to try to stand out in my help in the war effort and instead of netting me praise and adulation, I get house arrest, my research made completely pointless, and now fleeing from the law! I should have just become a medic!”

Bray sighs as he rubs his upper eyes.

“Your research may not be pointless, Doctor,” Garrus tells him, keeping his tone even. “Shepard took control of the Reapers, yes, but the reason she ran off was because she was worried about indoctrinating anyone who came near her. If you can find a way to block that…”

“It’s not that simple!” His voice is interspersed with the clatter of datapads and clanking of metallic objects. “The indoctrination frequency has changed! That changes variables! There are a number of adjustments that have to be made!”

“Can you still detect indoctrination?”

“Well, yes!”

“And does the blocker still work?”

“What part of ‘the frequency has changed’ don’t you understand?!”

A pause.

“So?”

“NO!”

“Well, how much longer do you need?”

“I don’t know! Do you have any idea how hard mechs are to work with?! They’re so stupid and clumsy!”

“If that is the issue, perhaps I can be of assistance,” says EDI, stepping forward.

“Who are you?”

“I am the Normandy’s AI, occupying a mobile platform. If I lack the sufficient dexterity, we also have a geth stalker onboard.”

A pause. The door unlocks.

“Assuming you aren’t as stupid as the mechs and nothing goes wrong, I think I can manage it in about thirty minutes.”

  


Like most of his run-ins with Mordin, much of Dr. Todil Kuvai’s work goes over his head. Screens of frequencies, readouts, rotating models of Reaper parts. Of the group, only Miranda seems to understand any of it, examining them all with silent curiosity. The only screens Garrus can make sense of are from the cameras in the space station. Mechs walk about, refilling food dispensers, cleaning cages, and physically examining the lab animals. Those who normally work with the portable barrier emitter are sitting dormant along the wall. EDI has taken over their duty. The doctor himself watches her work, occasionally using the intercom to bark out orders. He is short and weedy, even by salarian standards, with pebbly grayish-purple skin and green eyes. Some part of him is always moving, whether it’s his eyes checking all the screens or simply a finger or foot tap of impatience. Judging from the stains around his mug and the empty bags around the coffee maker though, Garrus figures he’s simply had too much stimulant.

“Proceeding to alter jamming signal frequency range. Dr. Kuvai, I see points that require soldering. Would you like me to do that while I’m here?”

“Please. If you’re taking them out into the field, you won’t have the luxury of being gentle with them.”

“Pardon the interruption, Doctor,” says Miranda, pointing at a screen, “but the indoctrination is actually weaker than it was before, correct?”

“Yes, it is,” he responds testily, recording the results on a datapad. “But that doesn’t mean you should underestimate it. Subtle indoctrination is even more insidious because it’s harder to detect and leaves thralls with their intelligence for longer periods of time, making them much more effective to the Reapers. I expected those who journeyed with Commander Shepard would know this.”

“But it appears the power output from the Reaper devices has not changed at all. How is that possible?”

Dr. Kuvai pauses to look at her. Then, a smile.

“Because the power has been diverted to effective range. I haven’t discovered by what means each Reaper fragment generates its own power, but its usage is a constant. It makes sense if you think about it. A fragment can’t do much by itself, so it gathers thralls to help the Reaper cause. Stupid thralls are good enough to carry it somewhere, probably to a more populated area. Then it casts a wider net. Is that the correct human idiom? Seems appropriate.”

“And a smarter thrall can act as a sleeper agent for the fragment.”

“Exactly.”

“Hmm… The indoctrination can’t be disabled, can it?”

“I’ve dissected so many Reaper fragments and only ended up with more, smaller fragments that radiate indoctrination. Mind you, mechs are not known for their precision, but no matter what clumsy mishap happened, the fragments never ceased functioning.”

Garrus suddenly feels a chill.

“So indoctrination really can’t be turned off.”

Dr. Kuvai nods at him.

“Seems to be the case so far. If anyone is going to coerce me into continuing this, they better convince the Alliance to lend me a few of their synthetic infiltrators. Or the quarians their geth. EDI is really speeding up the process, and I’d prefer my synthetic assistants’ goodwill toward organics already confirmed than make one from scratch.”

“Alterations complete,” EDI reports. “However, the corrections I have made improved power flow through the emitter. The generator output is now too strong for the device. Wiring damage and power surges are inevitable.”

“Arrgghh. That’s what I get for using the cheap generator. All right. Shut it down, EDI. We’ll have to buy the better model in the marketplace.”

  


They run into Tali, Gabby, and Kenneth at Harrot’s. Upon learning why they are there, they offer their technical expertise. More specifically, they argue about it.

“Ah’m tellin’ you. The best way to go is one that allows you to modify power output,” Kenneth rants.

“Have you seen how many creds those are worth? It’s cheaper to get one with a built-in breaker,” Gabby responds.

“Not an option,” Todil Kuvai says with a dismissive wave of the hand. “I can’t have the barrier fail so suddenly and frequently. However, I don’t like the look of those prices…”

“I’m telling you, we can have the best of both,” Tali says as she examines Dr. Kuvai’s work. “I’m pretty sure I can jury-rig a power modifier for the generator he has already. We just need to buy the scrap parts.”

“But how reliable is it if it’s jury rigged?” Kenneth asks. “Ah still remember some of the experiments you tried on the Normandy’s engines.”

“Waning patience, I’m sure I have anything you might need,” drones Harrot. “Enterprising, I would personally recommend a brand new generator and will even offer a warranty.”

“Creator Tali’Zorah,” says Frog, lowering his head to everyone’s eye line and once again getting his optics broken. This time, the culprit is Javik. “I have compared prices at Marsh’s and he has all the required parts to accommodate your suggestion and at lower prices.”

“Thanks, Frog, but you really need to stop doing that.”

“Hurriedly feigned coyness, I can offer a discount for those same parts. And replacement optics for your synthetic friend.”

“The mission is depending on this, Tali,” Gabby begs. “Don’t get me wrong. You’re a genius engineer, but you’re so used to things requiring constant fixing. We can’t afford that here.”

“But we’re fugitives now. Our budget is kind of limited. Neither Cerberus nor the Alliance is providing us funding anymore.”

“Oh, this argument is getting quite heated,” says Kasumi, walking in from around a corner. A corner Garrus knows full well leads to nowhere. Rather sloppy and not at all like her. Then, Garrus feels it. The market has a large influx of customers and it’s not rush hour.

“Come on. Simmer down. Let’s stop before someone gets hurt.”

She happens to be standing right next to Dr. Kuvai when he suddenly falls over.

“Dr. Kuvai!” Tali yells.

“Oh dear!” Kasumi gasps, catching him before he hits the floor. “The poor man. He must have been working so long, he’s utterly exhausted. Ken, Gabby, would you be so kind as help me carry him to the medbay to sleep?”

“Er, sure,” says Kenneth, sensing something is up. He steps forward to relieve Kasumi of her burden.

“Should we go fetch Dr. Chakwas?” asks Gabby, playing along.

“Oh her errand was quick,” says Kasumi with convincing lightness, but is quite forceful in leading them out. “I’m sure she’s already on the ship.”

Once the doors shut behind her, the squad all ready their weapons. Likewise for the mercenaries scattered around the marketplace. Civilians immediately scream and run for the exits. Blue Suns, Eclipse, Blood Pack. Rare for them to be working together. The last time he saw them do such a thing was during his final moments as…

“Archangel,” growls a batarian near Marsh’s stand.


	10. This Better Not End with a Rocket to the Face...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The merc bands apparently have a long memory and this time they're not in an ideal location. How are Garrus and the team going to get out of this?

Immediately, the squad take cover where they can find it, which admittedly, there isn’t much of. The mercenaries all open fire. Marsh yelps and takes cover under his desk.

“Panicked, oh crap,” drones Harrot and heads for his back room as quickly as an elcor can manage.

He just barely holds back a chuckle. It really feels very much like that final stand in his base, except he highly doubts Shepard will come to his rescue this time.

“If I knew my presence here would make leaving such a headache, I’d have just stayed on the ship and played chess with Traynor,” Garrus quips. 

“At least the innocents have managed to escape,” says Samara, charging up her biotics in that serene way of hers.

“I wonder how they found out you survived,” chuckles Miranda.

“Come to think of it, didn’t one of the CAT6 mercenaries recognize you by that name?” Tali asks, idly neutralizing a combat drone one of the Eclipse deployed.

“I thought we killed them all,” growls Javik.

“Alert,” interrupts EDI. “The Normandy is under fire.”

“Now of all times?!” Ashley yells.

“Morgana or the mercenary bands?” Garrus asks.

“Unknown. Hostile ships identified as stolen. Jeff has been forced to depart to avoid damage. Cortez has been deployed to pick up those who remain on the station. Alert. Decima is attempting to break into said docking port.”

“Oh this just gets better and better,” groans Miranda, shaking her head. 

“I have already notified the others and they are on their way to secure it. However, they cannot back us up.”

“Even after the Reapers are gone, nothing’s ever simple, is it?” sighs Ashley.

They’re in a tough spot, all right. This is not the ideal battlefield. They’re cornered in a small space, surrounded, and not even a decent chokepoint to force the idiots into scope. At least he’s facing them all with a good number of teammates this time, but the biotics in the group lack the kind of mass crowd control he needs. The quickest way back to Normandy is the door past the entrance to Gozu District. However, that district is apparently still Blue Sun territory and they’re positively pouring out of there. The alternate route has very sparse cover and offers plenty of opportunities for the group to be flanked. No, as crowded as it is, the quick route is the better one. Better to face just the Blue Suns than Eclipse and Blood Pack simultaneously.

EDI starts by deploying a decoy to draw their fire. Garrus and Miranda strip the responding mercs of their shields. Frog helps by sneaking pot shots from the vents, confusing the mercenaries and making them think Garrus has more allies interspersed in the crowd and tricking them into shooting at each other. Samara pulls a small group into the air and Javik follows up with a lift grenade. Tali and Ashley, meanwhile, cover their position from the other mercenaries. The crowd cleared a bit, but there’s still little in terms of cover. Their biggest problem is the seemingly never ending horde of Blue Suns. Even if they push forward, they’ll be pinned down on three sides at the intersection and utterly crushed.

“Frog, can you seal the door to the Gozu District?”

Frog crawls to a better viewpoint and analyzes the situation. On the other side of the door, the flow of Blue Suns has slowed to a trickle, but a steady one. There is always two or three incoming and that would be enough to make short work of a busy geth stalker.

“Uncertain. Requesting permission to perform reconnaissance.”

“Granted, but hurry!”

“Acknowledged.”

Mostly silence from Frog after that, which was just as well. They still had their hands full.

“Samara, back Ash and Tali up!”

“Understood.”

Now the two fronts have a more balanced distribution but, the sheer volume of adversaries proves too difficult to overcome. For every merc they fall, it feels as if at least two more take their place. Until Frog succeeds with his mission, they’re locked in a stalemate.

“Where the hell do they keep coming from?!” yells Ashley, more annoyed than anything else.

“You think this is bad? Try holding a position solo for days!”

  


Frog focuses on one dead merc, hacking into their omni-tool, retrieving a map of their base and tapping into communications.

“No excuses! I want Archangel dead, you hear me?! He shot two of my eyes!”

“Sergeant Ghorum, are you sure this is Archangel? Because I’m very sure this is Garrus Vakarian. Helped hunt down Saren. Helped take down the Collectors. Major hero of the Reaper War. Very high up in the Hierarchy. Practically Shepard’s second-in-command. Word is they were sweet on each other too.”

“How is that relevant?!”

“Look, the point is, even if he really is Archangel, even if we’ve got him cornered, he’s got friends this time. And I don’t mean the twelve Archangel worked with—‘cuz, y’know, they’re dead—I mean, her friends. Powerful friends. Friends like a Spectre, a justicar, a friggin’ prothean…”

“I don’t care if he has a Reaper fighting for him! Just take him down!”

“…Interesting you bring that up, sir, because there’s a rumor on the extranet that says Shepard is now—”

“JUST SHUT UP AND GET YOUR ASS OUT THERE! I WANT HIS EYEBALLS, YOU HEAR ME?! I WANT TO CRUSH THEM WITH MY OWN TWO HANDS!”

Frog has followed the signal and is now viewing the exchange from the ceiling. The turian legionnaire all but runs out of the room. Sergeant Ghorum, a batarian who is missing both of his left eyes, turns to yell orders into the comm. He could seal the door, and all the other doors in the base, from here, but Sergeant Ghorum is heavily shielded and armored. Not even Frog can one-shot kill this man and risks a great deal giving away his position. What should he do?

“Hmm. A thoroughly unpleasant fellow, wouldn’t you say?” whispers a voice behind him.

It’s Frog’s turn to be startled. He bends his head between his legs to peek. Kasumi flickers into visibility. For once, she’s not smiling.

“The other four can handle Decima,” Kasumi whispers. “She’s still too injured to put up a real fight. When I left, Grunt was basically sitting on her. She’s not the priority. Right now, I need your help.  
“I can simulate an order with his voice,” she continues. “I got everything I needed from the conversation just now. But we need to take him out. Shields are no problem for either of us, but I’m guessing you don’t have anything to take out his armor quickly?”

“Assassination,” he informs her over comm channel. It’s a relic from when the platform was under Saren’s leadership, but one that has served well so far.

“Damn. I was hoping we wouldn’t have to enter the room.”

Kasumi signals to him to move forward so that she can look into the vent. He complies, but has a harder time turning around to maintain his own view. Her frown becomes even more pronounced.

“No explosive crates either. It’s like everyone is worried about safety all of a sudden. They just don’t leave them lying around everywhere anymore. Guess there’s no avoiding it.”

Kasumi carefully, soundlessly, removes the grate cover. Sergeant Ghorum keeps barking out orders below.

“Ready?”

Frog nods once. Kasumi covertly seals the door behind the batarian. Frog shuts down the comm.

“What the?! Stupid machine! Damn Harrot cheated me!”

Frog sabotages his rifle.

“Ow! Huh?”

Kasumi overloads his shields.

“AH! What?!”

Ghorum readies his rifle, ejecting the now useless heat sink. Frog aims carefully and hits him in the back, making a hole in the armor.

“GAH! WHO’S THERE?!”

Kasumi cloaks, descends, and stabs him in the gap.

“ARGH!”

And he falls over. The two freeze for one tense minute, listening for any activity beyond the doors. Fortunately, there is nothing. Frog enters the room to drag Ghorum under the desk and throws a tarp over him. Kasumi turns the comm back on and sets the vocal synthesizer to Ghorum.

“Omega is under attack! Blue Suns, prepare for invasion!”

“What do you mean, sir?” asks a human woman.

“Morgana and her forces are attacking Omega!”

“Uh, wasn’t Morgana the one that told Eclipse that Archangel’s alive and came back?” asks the turian from earlier.

“SHE’S BETRAYED THEM! AND US! THIS HAS ALL BEEN A TRAP FROM THE VERY BEGINNING!”

“I did kinda notice Aria was beeping you earlier, but you said we should ignore the bi—”

“SHUT UP AND GET TO YOUR BATTLE STATIONS!”

Apparently, the room is soundproofed because all the activity they hear is solely from the comm.

“Move move move!”

“To the fighter ships! Hurry!”

“Arrgh! We’ve already lost a good chunk of our forces to Archangel!”

“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but this really a big relief for me because my sister, you know, the one who still talks to me and hasn’t disowned me like the rest of my family? She actually named her firstborn after Garrus and this whole fight would have made things veeeery awkward.” 

“NOBODY CARES, BLANDUS!”

“Ingenious misdirection,” Frog says to Kasumi. “Not only does it prevent their numbers from being increased further, but will remove them from the field entirely. But what if they discover your lie sooner than you anticipate?”

“They won’t,” she answers. She is still not smiling. “It’s not a lie.”

  


Garrus and the others had made very little progress by the time the order came. Yes, they had already killed a large number of mercenaries, but they kept coming. There was no end to them until…

“To the fighter ships! Hurry!”

The Blue Suns are inexplicably returning to the Gozu District.

“What are you doing?!” yells an Eclipse vanguard. “We were supposed to take down Archangel for good this time!”

“Kaaah! Forget them!” hisses a Blood Pack vorcha. “We take down Archangel without Blue Sun help!”

Well whatever Frog did, it’s working much better than his original plan. Perhaps he underestimates synthetic creativity. The squad make a break for the door and Garrus only turns to throw a proximity mine to cover their exit. And that’s when he sees it.

“What the?” gasps the vanguard.

An asari cruiser is lingering outside the window… charging its cannon. Morgana’s just about to fuck with Omega.

“RUN!” Garrus finds himself screaming.

The cannon fires its artillery and that area of the station quakes from the impact, but for the time being, the station’s shields are holding it off. Not for long though. They’re not going to make it. He practically shoves the entire group toward the Gozu District entrance.

“HELMETS AND MAG-BOOTS ON! BRACE YOURSELVES!”

Simultaneously, they clamp on their respective breathing apparatuses and activate the electromagnets in their boots. And not a moment too soon. The cannon finally rips through the shields, shatters the window, and rips a large chunk out of the marketplace. Decompression is swift and violent. Litter, crates, unfortunate mercs, even a sky car are sucked out into the nothingness of space. At one point, Miranda gets knocked off her feet by one of the crates and seems doomed to join them, if not for Ashley’s reaction time.

“Thank you… Can’t say I expected you to be the one to save me…”

“Yeah, well… Shepard vouched for you.”

Their path to the exit is now clear—very clear in fact—but the door is sealed and no amount of hacking will fix that. Air is very valuable on a space station.

“Garrus Vakarian,” chimes in Frog, “the vent to the marketplace is sealed. We are unable to return to your position.”

“‘We’?” Now is really not a good time to revert to gestalt based intelligence.

“Kasumi Goto and I,” he clarifies. “Do you require our assistance?”

“Garrus, I just docked,” Cortez reports. “Grunt, James, Zaeed, Jack, Chakwas, Gabby, and Ken are on board. Should we wait for you?”

“Wait for Kasumi and Frog and rendezvous with the Normandy. Then swing back to the hole in the marketplace.”

Kasumi and Frog, who were listening, immediately make their way to the docks. The rest of the squad have no choice but to hold position and try to figure an alternate way out, just in case. Outside, a firefight rages. The asari cruiser is joined by a diverse collection of ships, including some stolen rachni vessels. Omega’s exterior defenses fire upon them and a squadron of fighters fly out internal ports, bearing Talon and Blue Sun colors. To add to the confusion, another diverse group of ships jump out from the relay and open fire on Morgana’s fleet. It’s the other Spectres. Close to the team’s location, a frigate is destroyed. Escape pods fire all along the length of it, two of which hit the marketplace. Morgana’s men pile out, but Garrus doesn’t care. That’s their ticket out.

“Take them out!” he orders.

EDI and Miranda get some panicking and losing their footing by setting them on fire. Tali causes confusion with her drones. Javik and Samara throw some back out into space. Garrus and Ashley use concussive shot. One by one, they take them out until there’s only one left, clinging to a loose pipe.

“Cortez, Joker, we got lucky. We’re taking an escape pod to your position,” Garrus reports, finally leaving their cover.

“Roger. See you in a few.”

As the squad walks by, Javik pauses to help the last mercenary back to solid ground.

“Wow, thanks man.”

Before promptly kicking him out the hole.

“AAAAAHHHHH!”

Javik’s resulting chuckle is pretty chilling.

  


The inside of the escape pod is similar to that of the Normandy, so everyone quickly gets inside and straps in.

“Disabling VI,” EDI says as she hacks into the navigation software. “Performing flight checks. Activating shields. Calculating trajectory. Initiating engine. Taking off in 3… 2… 1…”

The escape pod dislodges itself from where it crashed and heads out into the firefight.

“EDI, how maneuverable is this thing?” Tali asks, unable to suppress her trepidation.

“It’s not,” EDI admits. The pod shakes as it’s hit by a shot. “Shields down to 34%.”

“Already?! That was one hit!”

“Escape pods are already small and room must be allocated for rations, fuel cells, and engines. There is no room for more powerful shield generators.”

“That is why they were always prime targets in my cycle,” adds Javik.

“Relax, guys, I got you,” Joker tells them over the comm. The Normandy swoops up behind them with the shuttle bay open, a mass effect field preserving the internal pressure. Everyone braces themselves as the pod is suddenly affected by the ships internal gravity and grates to a screeching halt at the far end of the shuttle bay.

“And that’s everybody!” yells Joker over the intercom. “Hold on tight!”

The thrusters kick in and the Normandy flees and Morgana’s ships are too busy fighting off Omega’s mercenary fleet and the Spectre ships. No one is allowed to fuck with Omega.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some reason, I have developed an inexplicable fondness for Blandus. To the point where I almost want to write "The Misadventures of Blandus, the Blandest Blue Sun in the Galaxy". But he's like that classmate or coworker who thinks everyone is interested in hearing what he did over the weekend or the dream he had last night, but in reality, no one is.


	11. You Always Leave Omega with Something Nasty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They came for a doctor, but leave with something extra...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uploaded a day early because Friday and Saturday look busy.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!”

One mass relay jump and an elevator ride later, Garrus finds something very unpleasant. He intended to check in on Dr. Kuvai, but who he finds instead is…

“WHY IS DECIMA FAUSTUS IN OUR MEDBAY?!”

Though very battered, under sedation, and under guard by Grunt and Jack, it is her without a doubt.

“Told you he would be upset,” Chakwas tells Grunt.

“She was already incapacitated when she was brought aboard Normandy,” EDI’s voice explains. “We had other worries at the time.”

“But why let her on?! Why not leave her behind?! Or space her?!”

“Kill her while she’s healing?” Grunt asks, face scrunching up. “That sounds unsatisfying.”

Her dark plates are marred with scratches and fractures both old and new. Her left mandible is even chipped off at the back end. In spite of her injuries and the bandages, Garrus can see she is very good-looking. Her torso sleekly curves inward to her slim waist and flare out to her wide hips in a way Shepard’s never did, nicely accenting the way her mandibles curve behind her head. However, not even sedation softened the coldness of her features and Decima is hardly the first alluring woman he’d seen since Shepard’s incarceration. Not even the most supportive looking waist in the world could make him forget the softness of her skin, the kindness in her smiles, the way she just lit up whenever they ran into each other unexpectedly. No, he would never trade that for anything. 

“It was actually James’ idea,” sighs Jack. “He said if Shepard were around, she wouldn’t leave her like that in good conscience. She’d take her back to the ship and try to reason with her before she healed up enough to retaliate.”

He couldn’t suppress a snarl. It is only all the more irksome because he knows James is right. Worse still, he knows he doesn’t have Shepard’s charisma. This is probably not going to end peacefully. Well, at least Samara is already obligated by the Code to end her. Or he could just ask Javik to throw her out the airlock. Until then, there are more important matters to attend to. Like the reason he came to the medbay in the first place.

“If Dr. Kuvai isn’t here, then where is he?”

“Sleeping in Crew Quarters,” Chakwas tells him. “He’s been awake for days, judging from his biometrics, so I wouldn’t expect him to wake up any sooner than six hours. And if you’re worried about leaving his research behind, just know that Kasumi has been very busy. She followed you around the entire time, downloading copies of his notes, stealing all the parts he needed to make the portable barrier emitters from the Omega marketplace.”

“Everything he needs is in the subdeck below Engineering,” EDI adds. “Tali, Frog, and I will help him construct everything once he wakes up.”

So aside from Decima, everything is coming together. The trip from the Skepsis relay to the Psi Tophet system would be a few days anyway.

“I want Decima kept under sedation until I’m ready to talk to her,” he tells Chakwas, who nods in response. He then turns to Jack and Grunt. “I also want a rotating guard on her. This is a Spectre. She’s not to be underestimated.”

“We understand, Garrus,” Jack replies. “We got her covered.”

“I hope she puts up a fight. Heh heh heh…”

  


Garrus then begins his rounds about the ship. First stop, Liara.

“The Terminus Systems have declared war on Council Space,” she tells him as he enters.

He can’t suppress a sharp intake of breath. The krogan and rachni at least gave their terms and a time limit and promised they wouldn’t involve any races that did not involve themselves. Pirates and mercs are not going to be as courteous. True, they aren’t as powerful now that the Batarian Hegemony has fallen, but everyone was hit hard by the Reaper War. And as Omega taught him, sometimes desperation just makes people even more deadly.

“Garrus, you shouldn’t blame yourself,” Liara says, as if sensing his thoughts. “The one who spurred them into it was Morgana, not you. Aria knew what would likely happen if she told you to come and was planning accordingly. Her declaration has become the last straw for many in Council Space. Even those supporting the remaining Councilors for political reasons are balking out. On top of that, Aria must have something over Irissa because it took only one short email to get her to resign. Only Esheel is left, but she’s really desperate to keep her authority. This may sound strange, but I think this is just Aria’s way of helping.”

“Me, Shepard, or just helping things along in general?”

“All of the above.”

“The problem is this is going to result in murder, kidnapping, drug and slave trade…”

“I’ll keep track of their activities, leak them to Spectres and local law enforcement if necessary. Do what I can to help the new galactic government form. There are still some who cling to the old system, but most of the galactic community is leaning toward the new one and all are demanding Esheel just accept resignation.”

“This will probably solve itself, then. If no one listens to the dalatrass, she’ll have no authority. And if she manages to stick around long enough, Shepard can probably guilt trip her into stepping down before the war really takes off,” he sighs. “With luck, she’ll even finger wag all the remaining slavers into submission.”

He looks up at the screens, depicting the progress. Din Korlack hugs Quentius’ legs, blubbering. Hackett is arguing with politicians. The batarians work together, regardless of caste, to rebuild their homes. Geth and quarians till the fields side-by-side. And Decima’s birth certificate.

“Miranda said that you guys might have found something on Decima?”

“Yes,” Liara replies, clearing all the other monitors and replacing them with streaming consoles. “Almost all records of Decima prior to her transfer to Digiteris were complete fabrications. Well constructed, but Tali helped us identify them for what they were. The only item with any substance is this and it wasn’t issued the day of her actual birth. There were attempts made to make it seem so, but it wasn’t.”

“So when was it issued?”

“Some fourteen, fifteen years after the fact.”

Right around when she entered compulsory military training. What could this mean? If she wasn’t born on Triginta Petra, then where was she from? He takes a closer look at the parents listed on the certificate.

“Where are Silas and Prisca Faustus now?”

Liara brought up images of the two, only slightly older than Decima is now. Silas’ carapace is the color of cast iron, while Prisca’s, though of lighter color, has those graceful curves in her mandibles.

“I don’t know. They vanished shortly after the date listed on the birth certificate. There is solid evidence that Prisca was indeed pregnant at the time, but I’m wondering if she is their daughter at all or if they were simply a convenient couple for her to forge a new identity around.”

His intuition begins to buzz behind his plates. What does this mean? Is “Decima Faustus” just a fabrication? What is the real name of the woman unconscious in the Medbay? Had the Council and the Hierarchy become so sloppy that they failed to perform a background check on her? The Council’s failure doesn’t surprise him, but the Hierarchy is supposed to be better than that.

“So where is she from then?” he muses aloud, mostly to himself. “A separatist cell?”

“I’ll see what I can dig up,” Liara says, now replacing a few screens with searches into separatist records. “I’ll call you if I find anything.”

  


Next to the table in the mess hall now stands the barrier emitter Aria is lending them. It’s a grooved cylinder with a flat top, as high as the table and about as thick as a krogan’s hump. Mess Sergeant Gardner is throwing a table cloth on it and hunting for extra chairs.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Gardner,” Garrus tells him. “We shouldn’t risk someone spilling something on it and shorting it out.”

“Aww shit. Yeah, I guess you’re right… I’ll have to ask Grunt and Vega to scoot it away from the table then, won’t I?”

In Starboard Observation, Samara is playing chess against Traynor.

“You are a very formidable opponent, Samara.”

“Thank you. You are very skilled yourself.”

“A formidable opponent, but…”

She moves her knight.

“Checkmate.”

Samara regards the board carefully.

“Checkmate indeed. Impressive. Play again?”

“Sure.”

As he walks down the hall, Miranda, and Ashley exit the elevator together and head for the kitchen.

“You do background checks on all the guys she has classes with?” Ashley asks incredulously.

“Not just the male students, but female also. And her teachers, tutors, school administration, friends…”

“Okay, yeah, I agree with Oriana. That is pretty creepy.”

“I know! I know! It’s just… force of habit. I’ve been doing that kind of thing in secret all her life. Performing checks on her schools, her teachers, her classmates, her parents’ coworkers… It was all to make sure our father hadn’t found her yet. And even though Father is gone now, I feel she should know these things about the people around her! Ugh, I really am a control freak, aren’t I?”

“I don’t know about control freak, but at the very least, you’re damn nosy,” Ash says, cringing.

Garrus moves on quietly; it sounded like a private conversation.

  


In Port Observation, Kasumi, Zaeed, James, Kenneth, and Gabriella are playing cards.

“I look forward to cleaning you out, Vega,” Kasumi says with a cat-like grin. “Bit surprised Ash declined though. I’d thought she’d want to dress you down.”

“You sure you can play with the distraction, Ms. Ninja?” James asks, his flexing pectorals visible through his shirt. “I know you’ve been watching.”

“What can I say? I’m sucker for well sculpted abs,” she says unrepentantly as she rearranges her cards.

“I fold,” says Gabriella, putting down her cards.

“Me too,” says Kenneth, doing the same.

Zaeed, however, just stares hard at the thief, who only continues to grin slyly.

“Damn hood. Come on. Pull it off and show me your eyes.”

“This is Strip Skyllian Five, Zaeed. You want me to take off my hood, win enough rounds against me to force me to do so.”

Sticking around would only make things awkward, so he moves on. In Life Support, Javik is staring at his Echo Shard, lost in thought.

“Javik, are you all right?”

Javik jumps, as if suddenly snapped out of something.

“The previous occupant of this room was the dying drell. Because of that, I find myself more inclined to nostalgia and waxing philosophical over the nature of mortality.”

“So between this room and Grunt’s, which do you prefer?”

Javik carefully washes his hands in the basin.

“If I had a choice of any room in the ship, I think would prefer Shepard’s.”

“Well, I think that’d be anyone’s choice. It is the nicest room, being the commanding officer’s quarters and all.”

“Actually, I was referring to her idealism. I thought her a naïve fool, but she had brought about the peace she so yearned for, even if only briefly.”

“It may last longer than you think. The krogan and rachni are just applying pressure and only the salarian councilor is left. There’s a very good chance the war won’t happen.”

“I thought, if I were surrounded by her traces, perhaps I would adjust better to this galaxy that has a future, that has hope. I have lived so long with only despair. Now, I am not entirely certain what to do with myself.”

Garrus would invite him to visit at any time, except… he made a lot of memories with Shepard in that room. Deep, personal memories. Even if Shepard were fine with Javik looking, he’s not. And if Javik picks up certain personality traits of the room’s occupant, one of the possible results would be very uncomfortable.

“You don’t have to indulge me, turian,” Javik says, washing his hands even more insistently. “Your pheromones are giving you away and I have no desire to experience the two of you mating either.”

Garrus walks out a little too quickly. Prothean psychometry is just another reason to pity the subordinate races of Javik's time.

  


In the shuttle bay, Cortez, Adams, Tali, and Frog and dismantling the escape pod for parts.

“Ah-hah! There’s the distress signal,” Tali says, ripping it out. “Let’s attach it to a probe and shoot it at a world with aggressive wildlife!”

“Bad idea, Tali. What if some other ship investigates?” says Cortez, pulling off the armor to patch up the Kodiak.

“Hmm. Good point. Maybe we can attach it to the pod’s engine, give it some eezo and the Normandy’s ID, and send it on precision jumps.”

“Terminus criminals have already tried that with no luck,” Adams points out.

“I like to think I’m smarter than pirate techs.”

“Perhaps instead of precision jumps, we send it into Wallace. Our pursuers may conclude we are dead,” Frog suggests.

“Would the distress beacon survive such high gravity and temperatures?” Adams asks.

“Perhaps if we embed it into a probe.”

“Would that really help? And if it does, won’t they question how the distress beacon survived?”

Frog looks down, thinking it over.

“Probable.”

“Well, it’ll either work, or it won’t,” Garrus shrugs. “Better than holding on to it for the entire trip.”

“Fair point,” admits Adams. “All right. Let’s do it.”

Frog and Cortez leave to fetch a probe while Tali and Adams set about reprogramming the beacon ID.

  


The only people left to check on are EDI and Joker in the cockpit.

“Aw come on, EDI, say it for me.”

“But it would be an inaccuracy. The situation does not match the parameters outlined in common media.”

“Screw the parameters!”

“Jeff, my life was not the one that was in danger. Garrus, Tali, Ashley, Miranda, Samara, and Javik, yes, but not mine.”

“What? Would you rather I ask them to do it? Because asking Garrus or Javik to do it would just make things weird. You want things to get weird?”

“No, I do not.”

“A little harmless indulgence. It’d give me a warm fuzzy feeling if that helps any.”

EDI sighs. She gets out of the co-pilot’s chair and carefully drapes herself in Joker’s lap.

“My hero,” she says, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“At last. My action hero fantasy fulfilled,” Joker sighs contentedly. Garrus clears his throat, causing Joker to sit up and look behind him. “Gah! EDI, why didn’t you tell me he was there?”

“Such dramatic displays are meaningless without an audience.”

“Augh. Next time we land in port, I’m buying a rear view mirror.”

“It’s all right, Joker. I’m not judging,” Garrus tells him.

“You better not or I’ll tell everyone the security code to Shepard’s apartment.”

Note to self: change security code… if the Citadel is returned at the end of this and her apartment is still there. EDI smirks as she returns to her co-pilot’s chair. Joker, red as a beet, gives Garrus a sour look.

“So where to next?”

“We’ll swing around Wallace to ditch the escape pod’s signal before heading to Despoina.”

Joker’s embarrassment is immediately replaced with eagerness.

“So we’re finally going to her?”

“Yeah. Finally.”

Joker punches in the coordinates.

“Mapping course to Wallace. ETA, six hours.”

Garrus heads back to the elevator and takes it up to the Captain’s Cabin. The fish continue to swim about and the hamster is running on its little hamster wheel. He heads for the desk and stares at the photograph of the party.

“I miss you so much,” he says to the photograph. “We all do. We’re not giving up until we find you.”

He closes his eyes and pretends she’s still here. He can almost feel her presence, the way her hand would lightly brush his shoulder as she passed, her laughter tinkling in the air, the pressure and softness of those strange human lips, the weight of her arms around his neck, her cheek against his, her strong confident voice whispering in his ear…

“You can’t.”

His eyes spring open. He could have sworn he really heard her right behind him. He turns around, scanning the room. The dismembered husk’s head. Can it be? Shaking, almost not daring to breathe, he steps forward and crouches down to its eye level.

“Shepard?”

But its eyes are closed. It does not respond to any stimuli, not even poking.

“EDI, did you hear that?”

“No.”

All in his head then. He throws himself on the bed and drifts off to sleep, reliving old memories once more.


	12. The True Decima Faustus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A pleasant dream/memory is interrupted by an intruder. As Garrus fights her, he realizes the truth she's been hiding all this time...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: cockblocking. It's rated "T", people. I don't write sex scenes.
> 
> Warning?: brief description of invasive surgery? I don't consider it graphic, but then again, I have fallen for the schmuck bait "Don't google [insert physically disfiguring injury or medical condition here]" so many times that I've actually become desensitized. Hopefully the squeamish do little more than wince.

The Normandy docked with the Neema, but Tali was reluctant to go. Her hugs were long and tearful and even Garrus struggled to not be overcome with emotion.

“I’m keeping ‘vas Normandy’ in my name,” she told Shepard, “and I’m going to rejoin your ship once the Reapers hit and those bosh’tets in the Alliance let you out.”

“There will always be a place for you here, Tali,” Shepard assured her, unable to stop herself from tearing up. “No one is more fastidious with the engines than you are.”

“It is kind of weird,” she laughed through her tears. “I can’t figure out why the SR-2’s engines are always so dirty! The SR-1 never had that problem. I wonder if the ventilation is to blame.”

“The guns require practically non-stop calibration as well,” Garrus added. “But Cerberus screws up most everything they touch, so I’m just going to blame them.”

“That’s usually a safe bet,” Tali said, trying to hide her crying hiccup with a laugh. “Shepard is the one thing they did right.”

“Hey, EDI’s all right too,” Joker interrupted over the intercom, trying to hide the sad crack in his voice, but failing miserably.

“One of two things then. I never thought I’d ever say this, but I’ll miss you, EDI,” Tali said to the ceiling.

“The feeling is mutual, Tali. I look forward to your return,” said the AI.

She gave each of them one last hug and exited the airlock. As the Normandy flew off, they saw her in the window, waving good-bye as long as she could. Garrus and Shepard did the same. His heart sank. Since her announcement to surrender herself to the Alliance, he had spent as much time with Shepard as possible, holding her hand, nuzzling her when they were alone, trying to make every moment count. Tali, for her part, tried to give them as much privacy as possible, but time was running short. It was a quick relay jump from the Migrant Fleet to Palaven now. They had only hours left. He felt her hand interlock with his and lead him to the elevator. She hit the button for her cabin and he couldn’t help wondering if this was a quick good-bye tryst. However, as he pulled her into his chest, he felt her sob and strain to maintain control. No, she didn’t bring him up for a liaison. She just needed to cry.

“How am I going to do this, Garrus? The Reapers are coming, but I’m going to be locked away until they get here. We might be caught in a war with the batarians and it’s all my fault. I bought time, but it’s just going to be wasted. All those lives for nothing.”

“No, Shepard, not for nothing,” he whispered into her ear. “We’ll all do our part to prepare for this war and you’ve already laid down the foundations for a galactic alliance. Krogan, asari, salarian, quarian, geth, rachni, perhaps even hanar and drell. And of course, turian. And I doubt Anderson and Hackett will be satisfied just standing around when they know what’s coming. You’ve done more than you think.”

“But will it be enough?”

“It’s a better chance than what we would have if you weren’t here.”

He just held her like that until her breath finally evened in her chest. The elevator opened and the cabin lay waiting. She looked up at him, eyes still wet, but otherwise burning with renewed resolve.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t waste the little time we have left like this.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“No, I don’t want to spend this time wallowing in my own misery. I want to give us both a reason to survive.”

She pulled him into her cabin and led him to the couch. She pressed her forehead against his before stimulating his neck with kisses. Her skin was soft, so deceptively soft for one so deadly, but went well with her merciful inclinations. He couldn’t speak for other species, but her lack of plates and scales just made her seem that much more forgiving to the repentant and that much more gentle to those in pain. Her hands, her body, her lips, so warm, soft, and gentle. The sensation was strange to him and if it were any other human, it wouldn’t stir up any interest. But at the same time, he could feel the taut firmness of the muscles beneath. This was the strength of a woman who would carry a wounded friend to safety, who’d stand between a shooter and his grieving target, who would keep fighting even for people who didn’t believe in her. He could not imagine any species that would suit her more. Her body truly matched the person she was and that was what overcame his disinterest in humans. He wrapped his arms around her, held her close, praying that time would just stop for the both of them. He moved his talons down to her waist and slowly lifts her shirt.

“You are not allowed to do that,” scolded EDI harshly.

Wait a minute, that didn’t actually happen.

  


* * *

  


Garrus wakes up to the sound of a scuffle outside the door.

“Stop resisting and return to the Medbay this instant,” EDI orders.

Obviously, Decima escaped. Garrus grabs the sidearm in the drawer of the bedside table and crouches along the couch. He switches his visor to infrared mode and aims for her head.

“Open the door, EDI,” he whispers.

And open it does with a pneumatic hiss. Garrus fires a shot, but it dissipates over her shield. They stripped her of her armor and omni-tool! Why does she have a shield?! Decima glides into the room. Garrus fires off more shots, but her movements become erratic to avoid them. Still, he manages to get her in a shoulder and graze her ribs, so the shield was a weak one. She must have stolen an omni-tool from someone. But just his luck. He’s run out of shots and, in his haste, forgot to grab the spare thermal clips in the drawers of the desk. With her closing in, he has to make do with hand to hand combat.

Once again, she is using that style he was unable to identify on Tuchanka. The intuition buzzes at the base of his skull. For some reason, it’s important. What is he missing? Lost in thought, she finally gets him across the carapace and he’s knocked to the floor. He stays there for a moment, reeling but also piecing things together. This style is definitely not separatist in origin because it’s distinctly not turian. There’s a good chance Morgana is not actually Morgana and the identity of her protégé might just be a fabrication. That cannot be coincidence. Then it hits him. The lack of accuracy in her strikes. The incident that utterly transformed Morgana as the galaxy knew her. Decima’s birth certificate fifteen years after the fact.

“You were born a slave to the batarians, weren’t you?”

She pauses, hand still pulled back for another punch. Her expression hasn’t lost its cold neutrality, but still, there’s something different in the air. What is it? Confusion? Relief? Camaraderie? She resumes her attack, but that moment gave him enough time to recover and fight back. Now that he’s identified her style, he’s able to gain the upper hand. During his Archangel days, he’d taken to sparring with his team and learned the ins and outs of their styles as far as they knew them and then furthered his knowledge in skirmishes in the field. And since she lacked the four eyes needed to use this style effectively, it is that much easier for him to counter. He finally has her pinned against the floor. Even now, her face doesn't lose its impassive expression.

"So is this it then? But I tried my best to follow what Father said."

"About what?"

"That children are better off dying than face such suffering. That it's kinder thus... At least, that's what he told Mother when he tried to make me stop breathing."

And Garrus found he himself couldn't breathe for a second. He could imagine the situation. After seeing the horrible psychological trauma Talitha had, he could even imagine himself doing that to his own children to spare them that. Is this what motivated her to kill children during the war? Liara and Frog run in.

“We’re sorry, Garrus,” Liara says. “Turns out she has a resistance to the sedative Chakwas used on her. She made her escape while I was in the bathroom.”

“Dr. Chakwas was used to neutralize me when I attempted to halt her escape into ventilation,” Frog reported, hanging his head with shame.

“What he means is Decima threw her at him. Dr. Chakwas is fine, just bruised.”

“She then burnt out the elevator controls. Creator Tali’Zorah, Engineer Adams, and I only got them working again just now.”

Garrus sighs, but nods.

“Just help me get some restraints on her. And tell Chakwas to prepare the STAS.”

“Soft Tissue Analysis Scanner?”

“Call it a hunch.”

“Understood.”

Liara charges up her biotics and readies a stasis field. Garrus prepares to jump back so as not to get caught in it as well.

“You need to turn back.”

Again, he hears Shepard’s voice in the cabin! Liara and Frog must have heard it too because they’re looking around wildly. Decima takes this opportunity to break out of his loosened hold. He tries to grab her again and Liara tries to stop her with another stasis, but Decima quickly counters so that Garrus is the one hit. She then clambers up into a vent. And with the worst possible timing, Javik arrives in time to see Liara pull him out of the stasis field and Frog about to enter the vent. He gives one look around the room and promptly attempts to wrench Frog from the ceiling.

“At last, you show your true colors, synthetic!”

“Oh now you’re just reaching for excuses, Javik!”

  


Frog goes into the vent to pursue her, but Liara is still trying to make sense of what happened.

“I was not hearing things, was I? I… I thought I heard Shepard.”

“I heard it too,” reports EDI. “I even have it recorded.”

“This is the second time for me,” breathes Garrus. “First time, I thought I was just imagining it.”

“And what did she say?” demands Javik.

“That we should turn back,” Liara answers.

“She doesn’t want us to find her, not that I’ll let that stop me,” Garrus says.

Javik nods grimly.

“I approve of your resolve.”

His eyebrow plates move together unconsciously. He never could read Javik very well, but why does it feel as if Javik is lying? No, not lying. When Javik picked up standard human language from Shepard, he picked up human intonation at the same time. He spoke the same way Shepard did when omitting or implying something.

“Speak freely, Javik.”

Javik blinks, but aside from that, his expression does not change.

“I just did.”

So a lie of omission then. He may not even realize he was doing it. Or perhaps Garrus simply once again misunderstood him. C-Sec taught Garrus how to read the various species of the galaxy, even elcor to a limited extent, but he had no point of reference for protheans. He gets up and grabs the husk head from its shelf.

“Well, while Frog chases Decima, I should probably check in on the doctor. See if he’s recovered from Kasumi’s escape plan. The mission will become too dangerous without him.”

“Dr. Kuvai awoke eighteen minutes ago and is currently working with me in the Engineering subdeck.”

  


“Tell your friend there are other ways to get me out of danger besides zapping me unconscious,” says the salarian tartly as he solders wires in an emitter. “And if you are arrested, I am a hostage, you hear me?”

“I understand. It’s not all that far from the truth anyway,” Garrus replies. Next to Dr. Kuvai, EDI’s mobile platform serves as his assistant and guard. He had to clear space on the table, so Jack’s possessions are lying on the floor. Her temperament has improved a great deal since the Collector Mission, but all the same, he hopes she won’t be too angry.

“I’m afraid, Doctor, that the only representative of the law pursuing us currently is Decima, Morgana and her forces. And while Decima is hardly in any condition to arrest and apprehend, bystander casualties are typically high when either Spectre is involved,” says EDI, carefully constructing a circuit board.

Dr. Kuvai groans.

“How long until you can drop me off?”

“Your indoctrination measures are the last thing we need before we go to Shepard,” Garrus assures him.

“So you do already know where she is then.”

“Just an estimation, but a strong one, I think.” Then he suddenly remembers. “Um, we’re going to need you to include Leviathan frequencies. Just in case.”

Dr. Kuvai slams down his solderer with such force, Garrus is worried he’s going to scream at him in frustration. Instead, the doctor just lifts his face guard and glares.

“Vakarian, what do you take me for? An undergrad?!”

“W-well it’s just—”

“When I set out to make an indoctrination blocker, I meant for all kinds of indoctrination! Dr. Bryson was the one who sent me pieces of Sovereign and when Shepard discovered the Leviathans, Admiral Hackett asked me to include their frequency! We even had the artifacts delivered to the testing space station by geth! I’m not stupid!” Then the implications of Garrus’ request fully hit him. “We’re headed to 2181 Despoina, aren’t we?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Arrgh!”

Garrus deposits the husk head on the table.

“I also need you to examine this for me.”

Dr. Kuvai gives him another look and sighs dramatically. He pulls out an instrument that has a screen with a sine curve on it and a sphere suspended between two antenna and is half-filled with liquid mercury. As he turns it on and points it at the husk head, the curve increases in frequency and irregularity and the liquid in the sphere undulates as if boiling.

“It’s severely indoctrinated. What a surprise.”

“Look, can you just… keep it in this room, your sensor pointed at it at all times, your indoctrination block on? Liara and I just heard it… talk.”

The doctor gives the head a leery glance before turning the device on Garrus. The sine curve loses its irregularities and the liquid in the sphere reacts only to the sudden movement before stabilizing. He adjusts the settings, but any irregularities in the curve and the sphere are stronger on the side facing the husk head.

“Well, at least it’s not emitting an indoctrination signal. Or if it was, it didn’t last long enough to have a permanent effect on you.”

Dr. Kuvai sets the head and sensor down in a crate and adjusts the settings on the original portable blocker. A rippling white shield emanates from it, encasing both the head and the sensor, and the doctor closes the crate.

“If there’s a sudden spike in anything, I’ll let you know.”

“So how long will it take for you to make a portable blocker for everyone?” Garrus asks, examining the complicated circuitry.

“With the help of the ship’s AI, the geth stalker, the quarian engineer, and some low-risk stims like coffee, at least two days. Less if any other of your technologically inclined decide to help.”

Two days. They should reach Psi Tophet shortly after.

“Alert: Decima is in the AI core!” EDI yells.

“I’m coming, EDI!” Garrus yells as he runs for the ladder to the vent.

“Everybody hang on!” Joker shouts over the intercom.

Just as Garrus grabs a rung, the internal gravity shuts off for a moment.

“What the?!” Dr. Kuvai is lifted off his feet. The ship then speeds up, forcing everyone to the back of the ship.

“AAAHH!”

The momentum presses against Garrus’ exoskeleton and the rungs dig into his chest and limbs, but just as quickly, the gravity is turned back on and everyone is thrown back to the floor.

“Jeff, that was excessive!” EDI cries as she gets to her feet.

“I’m not letting her hurt you if I can help it!”

Garrus, still clinging to the rung, clambers up through the vents and into the AI Core. It’s void of organics aside from him and the door to the medbay is locked tight. However, it soon unlocks and opens, revealing Decima knocked out and slumped over on the wall behind the elevator.

  


“Gotta admit, I’m impressed,” Grunt says. “You’re the last person I thought would take her down.”

Everyone is in the mess hall, surrounding Decima who is unconscious and now omni-handcuffed to boot.

“’First do no harm’ or so they believe the oath goes,” recites Chakwas, frowning. “But she did throw me at Frog. I think I’m well within my rights as a medical professional to keep her strapped to the bed.”

“I am already compelled by the Code to bring the unrepentant to justice,” Samara tells her. 

“There’s only one place for someone like her,” says Javik. “Out the airlock.”

“Pft. Too quick and painless,” snarls Tali. “She stole a quarian ship. A very valuable quarian ship which we subsequently had to sacrifice to Kalros. I insist on sticking my shotgun up her—”

“She tried to kill me,” EDI interrupts. “At least leave her alive long enough for me to adequately express my outrage.”

“The rest of us got pretty rattled thanks to Joker’s stunt,” says Jack, cracking her neck. “Give us a chance to take it out on her, will you?”

“It saved EDI,” grumbles Joker. “I’m not apologizing.”

“No,” sighs Garrus, surprising everyone. “Liara, I figured out a possibility behind the fifteen year blank in her life and, if her reaction was any indication, it was the correct one.”

He picks her up and heads for the Medbay.

“Chakwas, fire up that STAS.”

  


Minutes later, the doctor retrieved her omni-tool from the Spectre and began scanning. Though he lacks the ability to understand what he was seeing, Chakwas’ reactions confirm his suspicions.

“My God,” she gasps, bringing a hand up to her mouth.

Dr. Kuvai grimaces and even Miranda can’t suppress her disgust.

“I sincerely hope that the upper castes of the Hegemony were indoctrinated into allowing such atrocities…”

“Just tell us what we’re looking at,” snaps Jack, squinting at the display.

“She once had a control chip in her brain,” Chakwas answers. “And judging by the depth of the cavity, it was when she was still a very young baby.”

“Goddamn batarians,” Zaeed growls.

Tali groans, James shudders, and Joker is left speechless. Kasumi covers her mouth, trying her best not to be sick. Ashley keeps opening and closing her hands, as if fighting off the urge to punch something. Jack gulps.

“Can’t believe I’m saying this, but of all the screwed up things Cerberus did to me, I’m grateful they skipped out on that one.”

“They probably didn’t want to risk affecting your biotics,” Miranda replies.

“Ugh.”

“It gets worse,” Dr. Kuvai says, gesturing at scarring on the frontal lobe. “See this? She was practically lobotomized in the process of removing it. Judging from the state of the damage and her high functionality now, I’d say this happened when she was young. Perhaps at… let’s see… what’s the developmental equivalent for turians? Somewhere between six and eight years, I think?”

“Still don’t understand why your species didn’t develop redundant nervous systems,” Grunt mutters.

“I’m afraid I can’t tell if the lobotomy was deliberate or simply the result of a botched extraction,” Chakwas grimaces. “There’s no question the chip had to be removed for her sake. It would corrode eventually, causing severe damage down the line. But since it was implanted that young, the tissue would encase the chip over the years and there would be no way to extract it but to cut through. It’s really quite impressive she’s as high functioning as she is.”

“And that’s how it all fits together,” Garrus muses aloud. “Decima’s parents missing on Triginta Petra. Her birth certificate issued fifteen years late. Her willingness to perform any order without question. Morgana being her mentor. It even explains why she’s so emotionless in the face of Reapers and particularly massive thresher maw.”

“This is why I prefer not to find out about the people I am compelled to kill,” sighs Samara.

“Someone with damage like this has no business being Spectre,” Chakwas says, shaking her head. “How did the Hierarchy miss this? Surely, routine check-ups are a part of military training and service.”

“The medical officer responsible for those check-ups is the one who served on Morgana’s ship,” Miranda explains. She then shrugs apologetically. “I took over info gathering during Liara’s shift and only just found out myself. I was in the middle of confirming and checking sources when hell broke loose. The important point is that Morgana or whoever that really is orchestrated Decima’s induction into the Spectres.”

So she’s nothing more than a pawn.

“Shepard would want to help her,” Garrus says simply.

“But can Decima be helped?” Miranda asks. “I don’t know turian neurology as well as I know human, but I’m pretty sure your species doesn’t regrow neurons either, especially after looking at this x-ray.”

“Didn’t stop you from bringing Shepard back to life,” he counters. Miranda sputters in protest, but Garrus cuts her off. “I don’t mean now and it’s not even an order. We’re too close to the end to risk taking her with us and with Morgana on our tail. We’ll divert to Triginta Petra, drop her off there. Chakwas, prepare an in-depth report of her brain damage. Liara, make a copy of all the data we’ve got on her so far, or at least as much as you feel won't compromise you. Tali, EDI, set up one of our escape pods for stasis. I don’t care whether or not the distress beacon’s ID is changed. Hell, it may even confuse Morgana further. I’ll be sending Primarch Victus an email. In the meantime, Miranda, I need you to check her for any other immunities and find a dosage that will keep her under this time. And once again, rotating guard duty until she’s off our ship, and maybe some extra in the shuttle bay this time. She’s enough of a handful without a gun and we don’t want her leaving the ship on any terms but ours.”

Everyone scatters to follow orders with Kasumi and Samara volunteering for the first shift. Garrus and Javik are the last to leave the Medbay, but he can hear the prothean sighing as he does so. Clearly, he doesn’t approve, but Garrus doesn’t care. He knows with complete certainty that this is right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made up medical technology because I highly doubt we'll still be using x-rays, CT scans, and MRIs that far in the future. Hopefully, it wasn't too jarring.


	13. In-Flight Movie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The remainder of the trip is peaceful, and Cortez and Traynor manage to rope everyone into watching the (horrible) movies made of their adventures on the Normandy.
> 
> But as they draw ever closer to their destination, they realize that (like the rest of the journey), there are some bumps in their way...

Fortunately, the rest of the journey was relatively uneventful, though the detour added days to the journey. Garrus had the distinct feeling he was going to regret it, but he saw no other recourse. Getting Decima off the ship proved to be no problem, as Miranda had successfully kept her sedated. Chakwas and Miranda’s medical examination and Liara’s data collection were allocated on a disk, which was attached to Decima’s stasis pod and sent on its way. With that weight off their collective backs, everyone except Dr. Kuvai retreated to bed. Upon waking, Miranda, Tali, EDI, and Frog joined the salarian in the subdeck, helping with emitter production. Jack, it transpired, had moved to the War Room and turned it into her own private rave, complete with loud music, strobe lights, and holograms of cage dancers on the conference table.

“Hey, you let the doc kick me out of my room. Consider this revenge.”

Aside from that, the most exciting incidents included Dr. Kuvai accidentally drinking Tali’s energy drink and climbing into the vent to the AI Core as a shortcut to Chakwas, Grunt getting chased around the ship by Gardner who was whacking him with a dirty mop (Garrus never found out why), Traynor attempting to teach Javik chess (and subsequent accusations of deceit when she kept beating him), Adams and the Donnellys finally solving the engine/calibration problem (though Tali is a bit disappointed she didn’t get to help), and Zaeed and James’ contest that started with arm wrestling and somehow ended with them passed out dead drunk in the Medbay.

“I was watching the whole thing from beginning to end and not even I’m sure how it reached this point,” Ashley told him, shaking her head.

“I have it recorded. I’m rewatching it right now and it all lost coherency once Francis Kitt’s Macbeth got involved,” said Kasumi, looking at her omni-tool.

“It was a very good movie,” Traynor said. “Don’t know why they burst out laughing at Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking scene.”

  


The day after, Traynor and Cortez talked Garrus, Liara, Ashley, and Tali into watching Citadel with them and Jack queued it up on the holographic conference table. 

“I know I’m stubborn, but I wasn’t that pigheaded!”

“How much research did the director do? I was never that disrespectful, not even to Palin!”

“I put up a bigger fight against Fist’s henchmen than that!”

“Who does this actress think she is? Marilyn Monroe? I don’t talk all breathy like that!”

“Yeah you kinda do,” laughed Jack.

“The actress chosen to portray Shepard seems a little stiff,” observed Traynor.

“Speeches are on the nose though,” Jack said.

People passing by heard the sounds of laughter and outrage and the room slowly filled up. Even Dr. Kuvai joined in, initially only wanting to report that they’ve finally made enough for everyone, but got caught up in the atmosphere.

“How dare they misrepresent my clan leader!”

“Is it really true Kirrahe is always prattling on about ‘holding the line’?”

“Aww. I was hoping Sovereign would have his own voice actor. But then again, they were still in denial at the time.”

“Where did the director get that sound byte of geth speech? I did not think even heretics would be capable of such foul language.”

“Hmph. Is this what counts for entertainment? In my cycle, we entertained ourselves by dropping war criminals in hostile environments with nothing but their shoes.”

“I would be compelled by the Code to end such a practice.”

“Hah! Your people did not even have a written language then!”

“Was Kaidan really such a drama queen?”

“Was Saren really so _teatral_?”

“Who the hell did they get to play Hackett? He looks like he’s injecting goddamn testosterone into his balls!”

Once the movie ended, everyone from the SR-1 explained what truly happened. It was strange how long three years can seem. When they finish, Cortez stood and held up another disk.

“Shall we see the movie about the Collector Mission next?”

“NO!” screamed everyone who participated.

“Sure! I’d love to see how they screw that up!” laughed Ashley.

The movie, Omega-4, was even worse, but for some, even more entertaining. Miranda, Jacob, Jack, and Samara were even more underdressed than the real thing (and in Jack’s case, he didn’t think that was even possible), Grunt’s actor was bigger and even more savage (Grunt immediately looked up the actor so he could challenge him to a fight), Zaeed’s actor was perpetually drunk and slurring (his only complaint was that he can hold his drink better than that), Thane’s spiritual angle was greatly exaggerated, Legion’s voice actor spoke in monotone, Mordin’s actor used pronouns, Kasumi wasn’t even in the picture (not that she minded), and his relationship with Shepard was played for laughs. Javik, who was delivering his dry commentary throughout, fell silent whenever the Collectors appeared. Everyone agreed it was a terrible movie, but Cortez and Traynor enjoyed it all the same. “So bad it’s good,” they said. It was a long day of humiliation and laughter before they all retreated to their rooms.

  


* * *

  


He opened the door and found her sitting on the bed. Her knees were curled against her chest and she was staring up at the stars. He entered wordlessly and sat next to her. He could see the tautness of her muscles under her clothes. Fear? Depression? Either of those would be reasonable.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

“Sometimes, when I look at the stars, I’d wonder what it’d sound like, everyone talking at once, everything happening at once. On good days, I’d imagine laughter, on the bad ones, crying. These days… Screaming, then silence…”

He put an arm around her and pulled her close. She relaxed enough to reciprocate his hug. She rested her head into his cowl and sighed.

“You know what I hear?” he whispered to her.

“What?”

“The sounds of battle. The sounds of everyone fighting as one. And as long as they are fighting, there is hope.”

She closed her eyes, silent for a moment. Then she smiled.

“I can hear it too…”

The terminal on her desk beeped suddenly, startling them both.

“I guess I better check that.”

She slid off her bed and headed for her desk. But before she reached those little stairs, the room suddenly breaks apart and pulls away from them, revealing windows all around and screens of news feeds. They’re now in a space station floating over a planet. At the same time, her flesh burns away before his very eyes, glowing blue.

“SHEPARD!”

Suddenly, he’s aware he’s not alone. The rest of the crew is around him, all looking confused as to how they got here. Even Dr. Kuvai is present. The only ones absent are EDI and Frog. Shepard turns around, still glowing blue and completely void of anything tangible now.

“You need to turn back.” Her voice has a synthetic, echoing quality.

Is this a dream? No. The planet they are hovering above is 2181 Despoina.

“We’re doing no such thing,” Garrus says.

“You don’t understand.”

A turian frigate flies by in the windows, pursued by a swarm of Occuli, who are in turn pursued by fighters.

“Morgana and her forces are already here.”

Garrus groans.

“I knew I was going to regret that detour.”

“At least it was more meaningful than seeing the Museum of Chupacabra the Goat Sucker,” Joker mutters.

“…What?” Miranda squawks.

“Gunny, I mean my sister, dragged us all to see it on a road trip once.”

Pain etches itself into his face at this point, even though the dream should have no effect on his Vrolik’s Syndrome.

“Primitives are so strange,” Javik says, shaking his head.

“I’ve been trying to chase them off before they get indoctrinated,” Shepard says, forcing the conversation back on topic, “but it’s been days already. I’ve even tried strengthening it a bit, not the point where it causes brain damage and hopefully not enough to be permanent, just enough to get them to leave. It’s not taking.”

Garrus walks up alongside her to get a better view of the fighting.

“And you don’t want to kill them.”

“It’s one thing if yours or someone else’s life is on the line. It’s another thing when the only one in danger is them. The Reaper’s cannons are their one weak point, which is all the more reason not to fire back. I’ll be fine. But there’s no reason to throw yourselves into the line of fire.”

He sighs. He was expecting a different argument. Hell, Shepard probably was too until Morgana showed up. He looks back at her team, their team, and realizes they have no more desire to turn back than he does.

“We’re coming anyway.”

“But—”

“This skirmish hardly compares to flying through that final battle on Earth, right, Joker?”

Joker cracks a smile and his knuckles.

“Like a walk in the park.”

“…That difficult?”

“Er no. I may have chosen the wrong idiom.”

Tali grabs Dr. Kuvai by the shoulders and brings him forward to introduce him. He does not look at all thrilled at the developments. 

“We’re taking precautions, Shepard. This man even found a way to block indoctrination.”

“Then how are we even having this conversation?”

“Well, we haven’t turned it on yet.”

Jack steps forward.

“Shepard, you always came down to talk to me, even though I didn’t want you to. You’re not getting off easy!” 

“Besides, if you’re having this much trouble driving Morgana away, you have no chance against Joker,” Miranda laughs.

“You are my krantt and battlemaster, Shepard,” says Grunt. “If you are not dead, then I’m not leaving you behind!”

“And I’m doing this mission purely non-profit!” interjects Zaeed. “Letting it end when we’re so close is just bad business!”

This got a sad chuckle from Shepard.

“Shepard, we’re coming to you whether you like it or not,” Ashley tells her gently. “We’re not giving up. You taught us that much.”

Shepard looks out over Despoina and gives a shuddering sigh.

“I really won’t be able to stop you, will I?”

She waves her hand as if dismissing them.

“Fine. I won’t fight this.”

  


Garrus wakes up, dream still fresh and clear in his head. He heads down to the mess in time for Dr. Kuvai to come screaming out of the Medbay to his invention. Apparently, he took the AI Core vents as a shortcut again.

“We are already in range of indoctrination!” he shrieks as he opens up the holographic interface. “I have not taken all the precautions I have just to lose myself now!”

The barrier emitter springs to life, generating white pulses and a low hum that harmonizes with the ship’s engines. The doctor then pulls out his sensor and points it at himself while fiddling with the settings. After a while, he relaxes.

“Minimal indoctrination and fading. It wasn’t strong enough or long enough to be permanent.”

He then points the device at Garrus and performs all the same checks.

“Same goes for you.”

“I take it we all shared the same dream last night?”

“Everyone except the synthetics.” The doctor stands and stretches. “If you don’t mind, I’d prefer to stay on the ship when you go and visit her.”

“Garrus, Ash, Jondum Bau is requesting permission to board,” Joker calls to him.

“Hm. You may not have to worry about that,” he says to the doctor.


	14. Jump Ship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jondum Bau updates them on the current situation. Upon realizing the ominous turn Morgana has taken, Garrus and Bau prepare for the final stretch.

Garrus, Ashley, and Dr. Kuvai take the elevator up and, judging from the heat haze that entered just before the door closed, Kasumi has joined them. When they get to the bridge, Jondum Bau has already entered and is shaking hands with EDI.

“Ah, Garrus Vakarian, Captain Ashley Williams,” The Spectre steps forward to shake their hands next. “I was expecting our paths to cross at some point. Lucky for us both, it’s when I no longer have to arrest you.”

“Bit surprised you are coming from the opposite direction,” Ashley says.

“We were following Morgana. For her unprovoked aggression against the Rachni Queen and the Terminus Systems, the other Spectres and I have decided she counts as a rogue agent. And for hiding Decima Faustus’ mental condition. We have just received the reports.”

“Can Spectres really declare each other as rogue?” Garrus asks both him and Ashley.

“Ordinarily that is the Council’s call, but as you are no doubt aware, there is a bit of an upheaval at the moment. The overwhelming majority of us are of the opinion that Morgana has gone too far and Quentius and Hackett have given their approval. We were trying to bring her in, but she and her mercenaries made it to Psi Tophet before we could apprehend them. The Reapers took over from there and Shepard explained her situation to us directly. We stayed as long as we could. Their numbers are a fraction what they were. Still, we were starting to feel the effects of indoctrination. The longer we stayed, the more we felt this insistent nudging at the back of our minds that we should really leave.”

Dr. Kuvai, taking shelter behind Garrus’ larger stature, points his detection device at Jondum Bau. After much snuffling and disapproving grunts, he finally delivers his diagnosis.

“Indoctrination levels higher than what anyone should be comfortable with, but at least they’re dropping. Good chance it’s not permanent, but you still might want to get your head checked.”

“Hmm. That would explain this minor, but inexplicable desire to stop you. Aside from Morgana and her forces, I am the last one out. The other Spectres have set up a perimeter outside of indoctrination range, but no reports of her trying to break it yet.”

“I don’t suppose you have any idea what she’s after?” Ashley asks. “I mean a head-on strike against the Reapers is just plain suicide, even if Shepard’s the one in charge now.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand either. Decima provided a very good distraction and bought a great deal of time. Anticipating your final destination, going ahead of you, and cutting you off before you reached Psi Tophet would have been the easiest, least risky, and most efficient course of action. While it’s true we did chase her all the way here, she was the one who decided the flight path. There are any number of ways she could have tried to lose us, but she didn't. I can only conclude that Shepard is her true goal.”

“Which doesn’t make any sense,” Garrus cuts in. “We’ve known Shepard’s location since the beginning. Anyone with access to Relay data would have known her jump ended at Skepsis and Morgana most certainly did. If Shepard had been her goal all along, she’d have gone there from the very beginning.”

“Unless she was missing something she needed until now,” Jondum points out. “I’d daresay that she was even hoping you’d lead her to it except that doesn’t explain her attack on Suen. Still, I’m guessing you stopped at Omega for a reason?”

The barrier emitter. If Aria let them borrow hers, it only stands to reason that she would have more than one lying around. Garrus hurriedly checks his messages.

> From: Aria T’Loak  
>  To: Garrus Vakarian  
>  Subject: That Spectre thief needs to die
> 
> Not just because she fucked with Omega. She cleared Kuvai’s space station of his prototypes. One had something nasty in it. Take her out and destroy the emitter. Be thorough.

“Doctor, do you know what this is about?” Garrus asks, showing him the message. Dr. Kuvai looks it over and pales by several degrees.

“EDI, tell your krogan and your ridiculously muscled human to move the emitter in the mess to Bau’s ship! We’re going to need his help! And tell Tali, Frog, and Miranda to pass out portable emitters to everyone! Any pests who snuck onto the ship might get indoctrinated, but they’re just dumb animals!”

“Dr. Kuvai, what is wrong with that particular emitter?”

The doctor swallows before answering.

“It was the Leviathan prototype. It blocks Reaper indoctrination fine, but can only keep Leviathan indoctrination contained within its field. I never bothered to remove the artifact because of that.”

  


The two ships flew into Psi Tophet, past Eubolos’ orbit and used Arion’s gravity well to sling them toward Despoina. There, they see its upper atmosphere alight with ship artillery. Reapers chase after ships, not returning fire for some reason. Instead, they try to grab onto them with their segmented appendages, only to get them shot off. Fighters rush out to defend larger ships, only to be met by Occuli. And amid all the chaos sits the Citadel, still in dire need of repair. As they fly through the battle, they can see holes Occuli burned into the hulls, patched over only with mass effect fields. As Reapers try to gather the ships, they send in various types of husks in an attempt to subdue the crew, but the men and women within are able to drive them off and maintain control of the ship.

“Is everyone ready?” Garrus asks over the comm.

“Ready when you are!” Joker replies.

“Preparations are complete,” Frog reports.

“We are all in position,” EDI chimes in.

“Let’s just get this over with,” grunts Javik.

“I can think of at least twenty ways this plan can go wrong,” Miranda states glibly.

“Don’t list them out loud. You might jinx us all,” Liara tells her.

“No wonder you ended up the de facto XO,” Tali sighs. “Your plans are just as crazy.”

“And yet you stuck with the both of them for every mission,” quips Ashley.

“If I survive this, I think I might finally retire,” says Zaeed whimsically.

“No, _Viejo_! Don’t talk like that!” cries James in mock horror. “The guy who says that in vids is always the one who dies at the climax!”

“I keep forgetting to mention this, but you really need to fix your translator,” Samara informs him. “I have difficulty understanding you whenever you slip out of Human Standard.”

“Quit yapping and let’s go!” says Grunt, practically jumping in place.

“I have to admit. This’ll the first time in a while I get to cut loose without worrying about collateral damage,” Jack smirks to herself.

“Garrus, do me a favor and save the reunion at least until I get there,” Kasumi pleads. “Don’t forget. I want to watch.”

“Kasumi Goto!” shouts Jondum Bau. “So you did survive! And you’re here?! Wait, you’re not on my ship, are you?!”

“Oh, I’ll never tell!”

Garrus can’t help sighing. They’re not taking this seriously, are they?

“Just follow the plan, all right?”

  


Bau’s ship has a stealth system modeled after the Normandy’s, but the “look out a window” aspect is still a vulnerability. To bypass that, the two ships weave their way through battle, hiding behind Reapers, and slowly close in on their target: the Thelema. A Reaper is clinging to the ship, attempting to tow it away from the Citadel while swarms of Occuli burn away its shields and armor as a deterrent. The asari cruiser is still putting up a good fight, however, blowing off Reaper appendages and taking close-range pot-shots with her Thanix cannon. So it’s shot off, courtesy of Garrus’ custom precision algorithms.

“Scoped and dropped,” Joker quotes. “Normandy headed to position.”

“Copy that,” replies Bau’s pilot, Sodrik. “Are you ready, Sir?”

“I’m ready,” Bau answers in the hold, activating his tactical cloak.

“Opening shuttle bay doors in 3… 2… 1…”

The Reaper departs, allowing Bau’s ship to hover over the Thelema. Bau sneaks in through one of the holes punched into the ceiling and find the crew getting slaughtered by brutes, marauders, and cannibals. The pilot fails to notice the ship overhead because of all the chaos in the CIC.

“DAMN IT! OUR THANIX IS GONE! WHERE DID THAT SHOT COME FROM?!”

Judging from the pilot’s reaction, either the artifact is not here or the pilot’s seat is simply out of emitter range. The latter would be a serious oversight, but even asari make mistakes. Bau takes advantage of the confusion to knock the pilot out and downloads a blueprint of the ship. It reveals that the emitter is located five floors below, as well as a map of the ventilation system. Though running and gunning straight through with husks to assist is an option, he decides he’d rather take the subtle approach. He carefully removes the vent cover in the wall and climbs in.

  


Outside, the Occuli leave and Bau’s ship pulls away. The Normandy is already docking at the Citadel.

“I’m not sure about this plan,” Sodrik tells Joker as he sneaks into position.

“We hear that at least twice a day. First time is usually around lunch. Speaking of which…”

“Is that supposed to be funny?!”

“We’ve made our careers doing the impossible. This plan is easy.”

“Er, right… So about our part of it. Why only shoot out the main guns? Why not their thrusters?”

“So they can run away into the perimeter the other Spectres set up. Would suck if they all had to waste their fuel towing them back.”

“But what if they don’t flee? What if they use their ships for suicide runs?”

Oh yeah. They hadn’t really thought of that. Joker shakes it out of his head.

“It probably won’t come to that.”

“But—”

“I trust my team.”

“…And you’re still here. That’s a testament to something.”

“Wait, what’s that supposed to mean?”

But Sodrik ignores Joker’s last question, venting the built-up heat and opening fire. Ordinarily, this would draw enemy ships’ attention, but they have their hands full. On top of the medley of husks already deployed, the Reapers drop a brute, a banshee, and…

“Hello, dead people!”

…a squadmate.

  


* * *

  


It was a simple plan. They didn’t know which ship had the artifact and if by chance the Spectres blew it up already, there was no reason not to go and subdue the mercenaries anyway. Even the delivery system of getting everyone onto each ship was easy enough. There was only one hiccup.

“I am not doing it.”

They had to get Shepard to cooperate. Oh, they were able to get in contact without risking indoctrination and eavesdroppers. That creepy knick knack of hers was finally coming in handy.

“Are you aware of how many ways this plan can go wrong?!” yelled the husk head.

“Funny. I remember saying the same thing to you oh so many times.”

“This isn’t a joke!” she argued, somehow managing to hop up and down. “You’ve made it out of the war with your lives! You have worlds to rebuild!”

“I thought you weren’t going to fight this,” Ashley pointed out.

“That was before you were talking about boarding Reapers and using the husk deployment system!”

“If you’re worried about indoctrination, we’re taking appropriate measures,” Miranda tells her. “And if you’re worried about the duress deployment would put on our bodies, husks are not that much more durable than a human. We should be fine.”

“So the rest of you are just going along with this?!”

“Pretty much,” answered James.

“Can’t exactly have a proper reunion in the middle of a firefight,” Tali pointed out.

“And Morgana needs to die for her crimes, regardless of our reasons for being here,” Samara concluded as if that settled matters.

The husk head closed its eyes and groaned. If it had hands, it’d probably be bringing them to its face.

“Let’s face facts, Shepard,” Garrus said. “You’re not going to have the situation under control before we get there unless you kill them all, and since you’re the Reapers now, you are not going to do that.”

The head groaned again.

  


* * *

  


She really did worry for nothing. Jack goes wild, knocking everyone, even the husks, against the walls with her biotics. Samara uses hers to leave mercenaries either floating in midair or writhing in pain on the floor before shooting them dead. Grunt relishes his inborn instinct to charge at people. Zaeed just throws grenades everywhere, setting the whole ship on fire. Ashley and James seem low-key by comparison, but their shots are no less effective. EDI wreaks havoc, hacking the ship, locking mercenaries behind doors, controlling security drones and mechs for extra mayhem. Miranda strips all opposition of their defenses before finishing them off. There is only one other ship and they seem to have gotten off easy, except all the mercenaries find their weapons and shields keep malfunctioning and all their thermal clips and medi-gel have gone missing. In any case, each of them find the ships’ barrier emitters in a timely manner.

“Kasumi to Garrus, no sign of the artifact.”

“Miranda reporting. No artifact.”

“This is EDI. This emitter is clean.”

“Scars, I think I accidentally broke the thing, but I don’t see any of that freaky tech.”

“Ashley, here. I’ve got nothing.”

“Zaeed, mate. Unless the thing’s combustible, I don’t think it was here.”

“I smashed it to pieces, but I don’t see anything that looks like the pictures.”

“Samara. The artifact is not here.”

Jondum Bau drops down into the room on top of the emitter. Ignoring the panicking mercenaries around him, he digs his fingers into the square groove along the side of the device. With some force, it pops open. The Spectre peers inside expectantly and finds… nothing.

“Jondum Bau reporting. The Thelema’s emitter has a storage space, but it’s empty.”


	15. The Shackle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus and the shore party learn how Shepard lost her humanity and the plan of the Leviathans.

“The artifact’s been moved?!”

Garrus’ gait picks up from a brisk walk to a run. Alongside him, Tali, Liara, Javik, and Frog speed up. They run past crowds of keepers, who are in the middle of painstaking repairs. Soon, they notice keepers mopping up puddles of protein that used to be their kin. So she’s already here. Beside them, a wall opens, revealing a long hall of screens. Obviously, Shepard wants them to go that way. When the wall closes behind them, the entire hall echoes with all sorts of sounds. Talking, laughter, singing, little childish arguments. Each screen depicts something different. A shot of the stars and a woman’s hand pointing to them. A laughing human boy with a toy ship. A human couple, roasting nuts in the fire. A smiling batarian taping the boy’s ship to a water bottle. A girl with pigtail braids in a mirror, wearing a plaid blue frock and a frown. Even much younger, there is no mistaking that face.

“Shepard.”

The memories of her childhood, depicted as clips. Grooming the livestock. Tussles with the local kids. Lessons on operating farming equipment. Longing glances at starships. Catching her brother buying an issue of Fornax. The hall rings with talking, laughter, singing, and childish arguments. Rather than sound cacophonic, it gives comfort, like all the stars are speaking of these happy moments. Then, all too soon came the memories of the batarian raid. The hall screams, cries, and batters their ears with gunshots. She had seen their atrocities in person. She had seen her own parents killed before her very eyes. She and her brother fought valiantly, armed with only kitchen knives and guns stripped from dead slavers with which they had little to no training. One last slaver. He shoots at the gas main. The building explodes. Anderson is the one who finds her. He and his team dig her out. She’s still holding the hand of her brother. It’s limp.

He quickly snaps back to the present. They have a Spectre to stop. There’ll be time enough to explore her memories later. So they keep running. There is an open door at the end of the hall, a light shining through. The sounds in the hall shift the farther they go. Screaming, crying, gunshots, barked orders, rain, wind, wildlife, talking, laughter, weeping. There is a lot of weeping near the end. They’re almost at the door, which upon closer inspection is an elevator.

“Hold on a minute,” Javik says, stopping in front of the final screen.

  


“No! I can’t accept this!”

“You don’t have a choice,” says a strange ethereal child. “If you do not choose, then the Reapers will perform according to the function I have assigned them. They will bring order to the chaos inherent in organics.”

“And what is so terrible about chaos?! The universe itself is chaotic!”

“No. The universe is orderly. It is merely too complex for organic understanding.”

“Organics are created within the universe. By your own logic then, we are a part of that order.”

“And you will create synthetics who will destroy you.”

“You are making no sense. You claim we are chaotic, but also claim we will be consistent in how we destroy ourselves.”

“Yes.”

“Take a good look at my ship. EDI is a beloved member of the crew. Or take a look at how the quarian exile ended. All the geth ever wanted was to live side by side with their creators!”

“There were many who shared that naïveté in the synthetics’ infancy. It will change. It always does.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“If you don’t choose, all of your forces will perish. Your cycle will be harvested like the ones before.”

Shepard’s eyes looked to her three options. First, a flowing green light.

“The universe is so wonderful because it is so strange and diverse. I am not going to homogenize a galaxy.”

Her eyes then fell upon a hard drive lit in red.

“Destroying the Reapers… That’s what I came here to do… But… At the cost of the geth? Of EDI? And destroy the mass relays, stranding everyone here… I just can’t…”

She brought her hands to her face and for the first time, they can see how bloody they are.

“Am I indoctrinated?”

“You are not. It is the reason why Control would work with you, but not the Illusive Man.”

“Hah. I don’t believe you. Sovereign, the Derelict Reaper, Object Rho. And all those times I was face to face with Reapers, it was only a matter of time. It was always insidious. It’s probably exploiting my attachment to Legion and EDI right now… I can’t do it though. I’m not willing to risk it if it means killing the geth and EDI.”  
She removes her hands and looks at the generator, lit in blue.

“And I told Legion not to brainwash his people. I guess I’m a hypocrite after all.”

She painfully stumbles for it and grabs the coils. The flesh burns off her in a blazing blue. Then static.

  


The four of them stand there, staring at the screen for a while. So this is it then? These are Shepard’s last moments as a human? She pretty much condemned herself to her own personal hell, cursed to live forever, separated from the strange galaxy she loved so much. No wait. It’s more than that, Garrus realizes. Do the Leviathans know about this?

“Come on. We’ve got to keep moving!”

They pile into the elevator and as it moves upward, the only sound that isn’t subsiding is that of artillery fire. Crap. Those mercenaries must be giving her husks a good fight. Then elevator doors open. The situation is even worse than he thought. The room is devoid of mercenaries. Instead, the husks are all fighting against a cannibal who is burning as if possessed by Harbinger or Sovereign. It is holding its position so far, gathering dead bodies to replenish its armor and using a dead brute for cover, but its primary function is to protect the hard drive and its capabilities are limited. For every shot it blocks, one other makes it to the hard drive and the cannibal’s losing armor faster than it can replenish. To make matters worse, a brute is charging forward to rid it of its only bit of cover. Shepard flies around the room, as blue and ethereal as she was in the dream, only now flickering with every other shot and worried and desperately looking for something.

“Morgana and the artifact are here, but I don’t know where they are!” she reports.

“How is that possible?!”

“I don’t know! Maybe she has one of the portable prototypes? The cameras and sensors that were back online have been sabotaged or destroyed!”

Technology marches on, especially when salarians are involved.

“For now, let’s secure the room. We didn’t come all this way just to lose you now!”

With their arrival, the fight becomes equalized. Liara and Javik knock hostiles about in the air while Garrus knocks them off solid ground with concussive shots and targets the ravagers’ weak points. Tali strips banshees and marauders of their barriers and shields and unleashes her drones to help finish them off. Frog has sabotaged weapons, giving Tali a chance to stun the group with a tech combo, but promptly leaps up the walls and participates no more in the fight. Shepard’s cannibal helps out by tanking hits for Tali and Liara and throwing frag grenades. But just as they are functioning as a team, so too are the husks. Under the control of the Leviathans, the cohesiveness of their teamwork surpasses theirs. As a brute barrels through and disrupts their formation, banshees charge right to the point where Garrus and Liara dove while ravagers and marauders shoot at Javik and Tali as they flee for cover. As the cannibal scatters and distracts the shooters with grenades, the brute charges back at Javik and Tali, forcing them to separate. Meanwhile, Garrus and Liara successfully avoid the banshee’s claws, but she charges elsewhere to rescue the husks who were knocked off the path.

“Shepard, Garrus, we can’t keep this up!” Tali cries.

Frog clings to the walls, holding Dr. Kuvai's scanning device in one hand. He is getting a reading, but as he waves it around the room, it only gets weaker the lower he aims it. So he aims it higher. It points to the metal panels on the ceiling. He jumps close to that location and reaches out, expecting to feel something cloaked, but doesn't. 

“Shepard-Commander, she is not in this room!” Frog reports via the comm.

“Then she’s outside?!”

The moment Shepard says that, ship fire hits the ceiling above the generator. The room rocks from the impact and the scent of red hot metal fills the air. Absolutely everyone is knocked off their feet, Frog just barely manages to grab onto the walkway, and the banshee even falls into the abyss below. By the time the team has regained their senses, a woman wearing purple armor is biotically floating down to the generator, artifact in hand.

“NO!”

The cannibal charges at her, firing grenades as it does so, but Morgana deflects all of them with her biotics.

“I AM NOT LETTING THE LEVIATHANS CONTROL THE REAPERS!”

The cannibal continues running, armor getting blown off by Morgana’s warp shots. Since she has to carry the artifact in one hand, she’s limited to biotics only. This might be their chance. Tali, Liara, and Javik are keeping the other hostiles busy for now, but he has to be quick. He grabs his sniper rifle from his back. Predict her movements. Line up the shot. Breathe. Pull the trigger. Time seems to slow down. He can see the bullet exit the barrel in a burst of smoke and combustion, fly across the room, reach the artifact. It penetrates, impacts against the opposite side, and forces the orb out of her hand. As it falls to the ground, the barely discernible pulsing ceases and all hostiles in the room suddenly start as if just waking up.


	16. The True Morgana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morgana regains her senses, but still acts on the Leviathans' plan anyway. Except this time, it's on her terms.

Morgana reacts similarly, but regains her senses with astonishing speed. She runs for the generator, arms reaching for the coils. Crap! She knows! Garrus aims again and fires, but she activates a barrier at the last second. Frog leaps to a better vantage point to aim, but Morgana hits him with biotics while he’s still in midair, leaving him helplessly falling into the pit below.

“ERROR! ERROR!”

“FROG!” cries Tali, fruitlessly reaching out to him.

No time for grieving. The cannibal and the brute all speed for her as fast as they can, but the cannibal is slow and she’ll reach the coils before the brute does! None of them are going to get there in time!

BANG! BANG! BANG! Shots ring out behind him but Shepard flickers as if she were the target.

“Javik, what are you doing?!”

The prothean marches toward the hard drive with a steeled expression, shooting it with his pistol. Tali sabotages his firearm, but he throws her aside with his biotics.

“Don’t get in my way!” he yells.

He switches to biotic projectiles, throwing them again and again. The husks pay him no attention, determinedly moving to stop Morgana. Even Shepard is gazing at Javik with a sense of resignation. But the Spectre is all but forgotten in Garrus’ mind.

“GARRUS, STOP!” Shepard cries.

Next thing he knows, Javik is pinned beneath him, twitching from neural shock.

“You fool!” the prothean growls. “I’ve fought my whole life! I’ve sacrificed so much! I had to see this through! And you! You’ve seen your homeworlds burn from space! You’ve spent sleepless nights, wondering if the deaths were worth it and now?! Now you’re letting it end like this?!”

That’s right! Morgana! Garrus looks up at the generator, fearing the worst. The Spectre’s hands are mere inches from the coils, but they are frozen there. Liara trapped her in a stasis field.

“Fae.”

The Spectre twitches and though her face is obscured by her helmet, there was no mistaking the desperation in her movements. 

“That’s your real name, isn’t it?” Liara asks, walking to her. “You are one of Morgana’s nieces. The youngest one.”

The brute catches up at last, grabbing her and pulling her away from the generator. Garrus slowly gets off Javik and he and Tali help him to his feet. Javik bends down to retrieve his pistol, but takes no further action against the hard drive. Instead, the three of them approach the two asari to better listen in.

“I see why you prefer working through mercenaries. Now that I see you in person, even completely covered in armor, there’s no way you could be mistaken for Morgana. You’re much too young. Your movements are much too exaggerated, like a parody of her. It’s not all that different from how Conrad Verner tried to impersonate you, Shepard.”

Shepard can’t suppress a facepalm.

“What I can’t tell is if the acid was deliberate or just a convenient accident,” Liara continues. “Not only do you have a legitimate excuse to wear your helmet all the time, but it also affected your vocal chords.”

Her tone takes a gentler turn at this point.

“I understand the pain of losing your entire family, but your aunt would rather you live as yourself than take her place.”

“You don’t understand a thing.”

Liara starts and takes a step back. Fae’s voice is synthetic, but there’s no question that the harshness of it is heartfelt.

“Yes, I watched my family die and yes, Auntie Morgana nearly broke down when she saw that I was the only one left. But she was a traitor.”

“A traitor?” Liara’s eyes widen. “She had secret dealings with the Hegemony?! I never uncovered anything like that!”

“I saw it with my own eyes. She didn’t kill all the batarians. Some were still alive. She was even telling them to get on the ship. Can you believe it? After everything they did?”

Liara’s brow furrows a bit and Shepard squints as if suspecting something.

“What were they wearing?” Shepard asks. "Armor? Labcoats? Rags?"

“Does it matter? She was not going to be the Spectre the galaxy needed her to be, so I had to.”

A chill grips Garrus’ innards.

“You killed her?” he asks in a near whisper.

The slight upwards tilt of her head is all the answer they needed.

“Your own aunt! The only family you had left! How could you?!” Shepard chokes out.

“I really was so surprised by you, Commander. I had thought you of all people would understand.”

“What?”

“You lost your own family to those four-eyed bastards. I thought you would understand that they need to be exterminated. Your little stunt on Aratoht proved as much.”

Shepard face becomes lined in intense pain.

“Not because I hated batarians…”

“Yeah. Figured that out the moment your ‘delusional ranting’ was put on the news. Even now, with all the power you wield, you still won’t deal the final blow.”

Suddenly, Fae’s entire being explodes in a biotic flare, knocking everyone off their feet and forcing the brute to let go. She lands on her feet and runs for the generator as fast as she can.

“NO!” Liara screams.

Once again, Fae reaches out for the coils.

BANG!

She falls sideways, a bullet piercing her armor to her heart. She looks at the shooter. Peeking out from underneath the path is Frog.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week is the end. I'll be posting the last three at once because they're all so short. Thanks for reading!


	17. Resignation

“I thank you for the assistance, Shepard-Commander,” he says as he crawls to them. “Without the banshee’s biotic intervention, this platform would not have survived the fall intact.”

“You just saved me, the batarians, and quite possibly everyone else in the galaxy,” Shepard replies with a breathless laugh. “I think we can call it even.”

She sinks to ground level and walks toward the group, her steps soundless against the floor. Overhead, the fighting cools down and some Reapers carry ships away to the edge of the system. Others are waiting to dock with Bau’s ship or the Normandy.

“But now seems like a good time to address the elephant in the room.”

“Elephant?” Garrus echoes. They all look about for the enormous earth creature she mentioned.

“Uh, human idiom. Means we must talk about the looming problem that everyone is trying to ignore. Namely, what are you going to do with me?”

“Take you home,” Liara replies promptly. “Everyone wants you back.”

“But like this?” Shepard asks, her smile pained. “Even if that were true, would it be for the right reason? Governments would constantly be trying to talk me into obliterating their enemies for them. I’d be the knife pointed at everyone’s throats. The time bomb waiting to go off and it may not even happen in any of your lifetimes. Javik knows that already. That’s the real reason you came here, isn’t it?”

Liara, Tali, and Garrus turn and look at him. Indeed, the look on his face is a bitter one.

“I am the avatar of vengeance,” he replies in a quiet voice. “I trusted you to finish the Reapers, but you did not.”

“I know,” she says, still smiling though now on the verge of tears. “I’m sorry. If you want to finish it now, you can. I won’t fight. All I ask is that you give everyone the chance to board the Normandy and get out of the system. The Crucible retains enough functionality to affect this system only. It won’t jump from relay to relay this time.”

No! Garrus did not come all this way just to lose her again! He moves to stop Javik, but the cannibal grabs him in an arm lock and carries him off. Beside him, the brute pulls Liara and Tali into the air as if they were mischievous kittens to do the same and even Frog ends up carried over the heads of marauders.

“Shepard please!” Garrus begs.

“This isn’t right!” Tali cries.

“Javik, you can’t do this!” Liara weeps.

Javik says nothing. He stares at the hard drive, but then at the planet they are orbiting. Once again, Garrus is unable to read him. He’s as stone faced as always, resolute. Garrus struggles even more fervently, but the cannibal only holds even tighter. So this is it then? Is Shepard truly that determined to die? After everything they’ve been though and this is how it ends?! But Javik kneels down, touches the floor, and closes his eyes. It is only for a moment, but a long and tense one. Finally, he stands and faces her.

“You keep them here to prevent the Leviathans from taking over.”

“Yes. I’ve been trying to convince them to view the other races as their equals rather than potential thralls, but I can't correct a million years of arrogance that easily.”

Javik once again looks up at Despoina and sighs.

“It is too soon. As we are now, we cannot hope to defeat them and avoid subjugation. I… will choose to believe in you for now…”


	18. Ending 1:  Sugar Pop

The heaviness that hung in the air evaporated and the husks released everyone from their grip and knock all the dead bodies down into the pit below.

“Well, now that that’s over with,” jokes Tali, but unable to hide her nervous breathlessness, “let’s get to why we’re really here.”

She nods at Frog who nods back before folding himself up into dormant mode.

“Upload complete,” says Tali’s suit in Frog’s voice.

“Thank you, Frog. Shepard, do you think you can upload yourself into that body?”

Shepard eyes it with some curiosity.

“Are you sure about this?”

“It can’t hurt to try, can it? Besides, it’s only Reaper hardware that has the indoctrination vibe. If software did it too, EDI would have had us worshiping Reapers ages ago.”

Still, she hesitates.

“I meant as the sword at everyone’s neck.”

Tali looks up at her.

“I’m sure. Against the words of everyone else, you judged that the geth were worth saving. And you were right.”

“You were also right about the Rachni Queen,” adds Liara. “You saved them from extinction. You gave them a chance to redeem their species. Not many would have.”

“And I can tell you most would have taken Dalatrass Lindron’s deal and deceived the krogan,” Garrus finishes. “But the krogan have hope again and, with Wrex in charge and giving females a greater say in what they do as a species, I’d say their future is a promising one. Oh by the way, Wrex wants to give you your own clan and make you a chief.”

“WHAT?!”

“So if you get a say too, you can prevent another Krogan Rebellion in the future!”

“WHY WOULD WREX DO THAT?!”

“He’s up to his hump in toddlers and wants help.”

She groans, but can't hide her smile.

“Well, with reasons like that, how can I say no?”

And with that, she vanishes. He had expected her to try it on, like a suit, but Frog’s body seemingly awakens on its own. It tries to stand on two feet, but falls backward.

“This body really isn’t built for bipeds,” it says in a higher pitched geth voice. “How can he stand not being at everyone’s eye level?”

“I’m sure we can convince the Alliance to make a body that looks like your old one. They made synthetic infiltrators during the war.”

The geth body looks up at him with its single eye.

“Garrus, are you really all right with this? You know nothing will ever be like it was before.”

Like any of part of their life together was normal in the first place? He holds out his hand to her.

“I’m sure.”

She takes his hand and he pulls her into his arms. It feels strange, with the suspension hooks and hydraulic suction digging into his armor, but when she rests her head against his cowl like she did before, he knows this is right. The four of them turn and head out the way they came, through the hall of her memories.

“You know, I thought of a few upsides to this,” he tells her.

“Like what?”

“Well, for example, you won’t have to worry about Trebia’s radiation when we visit my family.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "And neither of us have to worry about dextro-levo allergies anymore!"
> 
> That was originally going to be the finishing line, but I decided against it since it sounded kinda like "Yeah, I'm only in this for the sex".


	19. Ending 2: Bittersweet

The heaviness that hung in the air evaporated and the husks released everyone from their grip and knock all the dead bodies down into the pit below.

“Well, now that that’s over with,” jokes Tali, but unable to hide her nervous breathlessness, “let’s get to why we’re really—”

The sound of a biotic explosion.

“What the?”

With her last breath, Fae cut off one of the support structures. Now it’s falling down and pulling a section of lattice on the ceiling right for them.

“MOVE!”

They ran for the exit, but Shepard could see they wouldn’t make it in time. The brute grabs Liara and Tali and throws them at the exit. The marauders half-carry half-shove Javik and Frog in the same direction. The cannibal does the same to Garrus, but it’s too late, he’s too far. As the lattice falls on him, the loud crack rocks through his entire being, followed by searing pain.

“GARRUS!”

The brute lifts it immediately, but it’s too late. He can feel it. His cowl kept his head protected, but the thoracic plates are fractured, his legs feel like they’re on fire, his pelvis is shattered, his ribcage is completely crushed, and he’s pretty sure at least one of them is piercing a lung. Every rattling breath feels like a spear to the chest.

“Garrus, can you hear me?!” Spirits, why does she sound so far away? “Liara, Javik, can you get him to the Normandy?! Tali, go tell Chakwas what happened!”

“No…” he managed to cough out. It’s hard to speak. He can feel the blood pooling in his trachea.

“Garrus—”

“It’s too late…” He can feel it. Even if they did get him to the ship, even if they had Chakwas and Miranda tend to him, he wouldn’t survive the trip back. He reaches for her hand, trying desperately to hold it but only succeeding in grabbing nothing. “Please… I don’t… want… to leave… you… again…”

More voices, but with every second, they sound farther and farther away. His vision is getting dim and fuzzy. The only sense that still seems to work right is touch. Large clawed hands pick him up, sending a fresh wave of pain through his body. Through what sounds like an ancient analog radio, he can barely hear Shepard’s voice.

“Go! If the ceiling takes out the hard drive, I don’t want that geth or EDI to get caught up in the blast! If I make it out, then so will he!”

The pain develops a bit of a rhythm and he realizes he’s being carried somewhere. Then sudden momentum racks his body and there is nothing but darkness and a brilliant blue light in front of him. Somewhere in the back of his foggy mind, he remembers humans joking about walking toward a light being deadly or something like that. And the creature that holds him is carrying him toward it. No. He wants to stay with her as long as possible.

“Shhh,” he hears her whisper. “It’ll be all right.”

So he relaxes. If she says so, then it will be.

  


Liara sits in the mess hall, struggling to hold it together. Tali had tried to do the same, but burst into tears the moment Joker asked them where Shepard and Garrus were. Even Javik can’t keep the anguish off his face. And though Joker chose to obey Shepard’s order, he takes it even harder than the previous two times. How are they going to break it to the rest of the squad? It’s unlikely they know yet, being on the other ships to keep the crew in line, but if EDI had let something slip… Her omni-tool beeps. So does everyone else’s.

_She won’t be lonely anymore. Thank you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooray! Story's finished! Thanks for reading!
> 
> I thought this was bittersweet at first, but with some logical extensions (specifically about the potential aftermath), this might actually be the happier ending.


End file.
